Category: Medicaid

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“Work Requirements” and the Political Appeal of Cruelty

  By Medicaid, Work Requirements

From Third and State, April 17, 2018 We at PBPC are engaged in a major effort to push back against legislation in the PA General Assembly to create work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP. The new federal Farm Bill put forward by House Republicans, which authorizes the SNAP (Food Stamp) program, has similar provisions. We have been pointing out that the stereotypes used to justify work requirements are simply untrue. We show that stereotypes that justify harsh measures affecting those who are struggling with low incomes are based on falsehoods. The American social safety net almost entirely benefits people who cannot work — the elderly, ill, and disabled — or working Americans. It offers very little to able-bodied men and women who do not work. People who receive Medicaid and food stamps mostly work when they can find employment and are not ill, disabled, in school, or taking care of young children… Continue reading

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PA House GOP Stealth Attack on Medicaid

  By Medicaid, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Work requirements

**UPDATE 7/11/17 – 4:45 PM** The House passed the bill through to the Senate 102-91. The Senate must again vote on the bill as amended PA House Republican leaders are trying to force Pennsylvania to seek federal waivers for our Medicaid program that would establish requirements that Medicaid recipients either be working or searching for a job and that that ask them to pay premiums or higher co-pays for their insurance. These ideas were part of Governor Corbett’s plan to expand Medicaid, which Governor Wolf rightly rejected. Now, the House will vote on these terrible provisions as part of the budget code (instructions for implementing the budget) for 2017-18 after it was added as an amendment in the House Rules Committee. What’s the objection to work requirements or premiums for Medicaid? First, support for a work or job search requirement is based on a misconception that there are a large… Continue reading

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How Dumb Does Senator Toomey Think We Are?

  By Medicaid, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts

Marc Stier | 07/02/2017 Blog I’m not just a practitioner of political rhetoric, but also a connoisseur of it. I can appreciate a good argument and a well-turned phrase put forward by our ideological opponents. And, rather than get disturbed by what the other side says, I take their best work as a challenge. But what truly does get me angry is when our opponents not only lie, but do so with arguments that are insulting to the intelligence of the people we are trying to influence – the citizens of Pennsylvania and America. So it’s no wonder that I find what Senator Toomey says about the impact of the Senate health care bill on Medicaid so utterly offensive. When I hear him speak on the plan he played a major role in devising, I can’t help but wonder, ‘how dumb does Toomey think we are?’  I can quickly answer: Not… Continue reading

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State As Well As Federal Republicans Go After Medicaid

  By Health Care, Medicaid, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Public Policy, Work requirements

At both the state and federal level, Republican Party leaders seem to be on the warpath against Medicaid. Thankfully, rank and file Republicans in both legislatures and the public seem to be pushing back against them, as long, bi-partisan support for Medicaid continues. At the federal level, both the Senate and House Republican health care bills call for drastic cuts to not just the Medicaid Expansion but traditional Medicaid. The cuts they propose will lead to tens of thousands of seniors, children, disabled people and working adults losing health care. Thankfully some Republicans are pushing back against the proposal. Four Pennsylvania Republican members of the U.S. House delegation voted against the House bill. And while Senator Toomey is pushing to make the Senate bill worse, so far he hasn’t convinced all his Republicans colleagues to join him. In Pennsylvania, Republican leaders want to seek federal waivers for our Medicaid program… Continue reading