There will not be cuts to Medicaid under a new program that allows states to receive their funding for select adult beneficiaries as block grants, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma argued recently.
Verma defended the Healthy Adult Opportunity program, which the agency unveiled in late January, in an article in the Washington Post in mid-February.
Providers are almost universally against anything with the “block grant” label out of fear that it would cap spending on some of society’s most frail individuals.
Verma vehemently denies such suppositions.
She pointed out that the optional program will allow participating states to receive a block grant for adults under the age of 65 who aren’t eligible for Medicaid on the basis of disability or who aren’t eligible under a state plan.
“Fearmongering” is how Verma described criticism of the proposal.
“Let me be clear: Fearmongering notwithstanding, HAO does not cut Medicaid funding,” Verma wrote. “This optional demonstration continues federal funding to states based on their historical spending with a reasonable growth rate.”
She said there was “alarming misinformation swirling about HAO” that created feelings of “fear and uncertainty for millions of Medicaid beneficiaries who will never be affected. Those responsible for causing them needless worry should be ashamed.”
Verma said the program would help them prioritize their funding for those who need it most.
“Those who are railing against the Trump administration’s ‘cuts’ to the Medicaid program are railing against a policy that doesn’t exist,” she concluded.
