Delegates have hit pause on a bill that would affect West Virginia’s share of Medicaid spending.
Under the bill, if federal officials cut the amount West Virginia is reimbursed for the healthcare expenses of its Medicaid expansion population, delegates are preparing a refusal to fill the gap.
The legislation has caused an uproar since it was unexpectedly introduced late last week, with a vigorous protest in the Capitol today.
But before the House of Delegates floor session today, legislative leaders moved the bill to an inactive calendar — severely curtailing the odds that it would pass to the Senate before a deadline in just a couple of days.
During a rally in the Capitol Rotunda that took place prior to the bill being shuffled aside, speakers emphasized how many people could lose their health insurance and described dangers to the financing that supports rural healthcare.
Rallygoers held signs that said “VOTE NO.”
“If the federal match formula ever changes, that would be devastating or catastrophic to our health care system in West Virginia, specifically our rural hospitals,” said Rich Sutphin, executive director of the West Virginia Rural Health Association.
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program for health insurance and medical services, traditionally for low-income people but more recently also for the working class.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act encouraged states to expand Medicaid to cover more low-income Americans lacking employer-provided insurance. Forty states participated, insuring about 21 million people since 2014 and reducing the national uninsured rate.
The federal government covers 90% of the expansion cost, significantly more than the average reimbursement rate for other Medicaid beneficiaries.
If the federal assistance for that expansion program is reduced, the West Virginia bill would disenroll and eliminate state coverage for Medicaid expansion.
On the line, officials have said, is the health insurance for about 165,000 West Virginians.
Some other states already have such a trigger law: Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a budget resolution that could open the door to $880 billion in cuts to spending with Medicaid as a big possibility for those dollars.
Overall, the resolution mandates $2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. The Republican majorities in Congress are looking for the big budget savings to meet their goal of fully extending President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
The budget plan assigns the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 million in savings, and one of the biggest programs under its authority is Medicaid.
Dr. Nicole Bryce, a resident at Charleston Area Medical Center in obstetrics/gynecology, said a Medicaid cut would be devastating to patients.
“If we lose that coverage, those patients will not be able to see receive prenatal care, we will see a negative impact on our ability to not only care for the patients and these moms, but also their babies of the future,” Bryce said.