Rep. Gabe Evans defends GOP spending bill as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse warn it will slash Medicaid
The Republican spending bill is helping unite the Democratic Party after days of infighting over a GOP resolution to avert a shutdown. Party leaders called for a Medicaid Day of Action to protest the spending bill that they say will mean drastic cuts to Medicaid.
The party turned to two heavy hitters in Colorado -- Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse, who represents Colorado's 2nd Congressional District -- who held an event at Clinica Family Health in Lafayette to sound an alarm.
"$880 billion of cuts to Medicaid would dismantle the Medicaid program as we know it, and it would mean that hundreds of thousands of Coloradans would no longer have access to health care," warned Neguse.
The GOP resolution directs the Energy and Commerce Committee -- which oversees Medicaid -- to cut the deficit by $880 billion over the next decade.
Rep. Gabe Evans, who represents Colorado's 8th Congressional District, sits on the committee.
"To say that those $880 billion are going to come from Medicaid or even from health care is a complete falsehood because the committee has jurisdiction over pretty much the rest of the U.S. economy. So there's a wide range of places where those cost savings can be found," Evans said.
But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says Medicaid will likely be one of those places since it accounts for 93% of the funding under the committee's jurisdiction.
Evans says he wants to protect the program for those who need it most.
"The focus of the conversation is making sure that the Medicaid program remains financially viable by cutting out the fraud, waste and abuse that's in the program," he said.
Republicans are also weighing work requirements for recipients, per capita caps, and reductions in the federal match, which is 50% for most Medicaid recipients in Colorado and 90% for those added under Obamacare.
The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing says the new matches could cost the state $2.5 billion a year.
"There's no way the state can make any of that up in our budget. And the first thing that will go will be benefits, and then people will be thrown off of their health care," said Polis.
Polis says any cuts to Medicaid would drive up costs for everyone else as places like Clinica Family Health reduce services and more people use emergency rooms.
Clinica CEO Simon Smith says 40% of the patients they serve are on Medicaid and he says he's already cut 15% of his workforce over the last year.
"We're turning away new patients who have nowhere else to go in the community, we've dipped deep into our limited reserves, and we've absorbed consecutive years of operating losses," Smith said.
Medicaid covers one in four Coloradans and many Americans in states President Donald Trump won last year. He says he opposes any cuts to the program but even some Republicans admit an $880 billion deficit reduction will impact Medicaid.
The GOP spending bill narrowly passed the House but it's unclear if the GOP has the votes to get it through the Senate.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are also eyeing possible cuts to Medicaid as they look to close a $1.2-billion budget shortfall.
Medicaid makes up a third of the General Fund and has ballooned by nearly $600 million in the last year alone. The Department of Health Care Police and Financing says that is due largely to utilization by older Coloradans and people with disabilities, who make up only 9% of the Medicaid population but account for 50% of the costs.
Gov. Jared Polis' initial budget proposal would have reduced Medicaid spending by $57 million. While he revised that, the Joint Budget Committee is planning to make some cuts to the program.
