Coalition Urges Congress to Reconsider the Bill and Many Other Harmful Provisions
DENVER - A number of deeply harmful health care provisions in the devastating federal budget bill were ruled to violate U.S. Senate rules of the reconciliation process by the Senate Parliamentarian. Even without these provisions, this bill would be devastating to Colorado, kicking Coloradans, families, and children off of health care, shutting down Colorado’s rural hospitals and health care providers, and increasing the cost of health care on everyone.
“I am glad to see a number of deeply harmful ideas were recommended to be removed from this disastrous budget bill. Congress should not restore them. While it is encouraging to see provisions that would have hurt Coloradans and families on the chopping block, I encourage the Senate to take this chance to reconsider the entire cruel and harmful bill rather than find ways to get the harmful provisions back in, or find equally as harmful cuts in their place. Kicking families off health care and ripping food access away from children would drive up costs, and Congress must pass a better bill that does not hurt Colorado families,” said Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
This procedural change would remove some of the most devastating provisions from the bill, which passed the House with the backing of Colorado Republicans.
Governor Polis has been outspoken on the impacts of this cruel and disastrous bill that would kick Coloradans and families off health care, rip food access away from children, irresponsibly balloon America’s national debt, slow the transition to low-cost clean energy solutions and more.
“Preserving Medicaid funding is critical to safety-net systems such as Denver Health,” said Donna Lynne, Chief Executive Officer of Denver Health. “Every effort by Congress to protect provider fees is a step in the right direction as it avoids a reduction in our funding which would be crushing to so many we serve, including the elderly, disabled and children.”
Over the past week, the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that various provisions in this disastrous bill violate Senate rules and must be amended or removed. Each of the following provisions, many of which were passed by the House and supported by every Republican member of Colorado’s House delegation, would blow a hole in Colorado’s budget, hurt families and children, and increase health care costs on all Coloradans.
- Cutting states’ provider fee programs from 6% to 3.5% to reduce federal funding that states use to reinvest in keeping health care affordable. In Colorado, this fee finances coverage for more than 427,000 Coloradans, and the proposal would reduce federal funding to the state of Colorado by $900 million to $2.5 billion per year once fully implemented.
- Penalizing states for using their own funds to provide basic coverage for certain immigrants, such as pregnant women and children. This provision would cut an estimated $300 million in federal funding to the state of Colorado annually, and would cause administrative costs on top of that.
- Ending ‘silver loading’, a financing arrangement for Affordable Care Act Marketplace insurers. This provision would make coverage less affordable for many.
“As the safety-net hospital serving hundreds of thousands of patients throughout southern Colorado, UCHealth Parkview sees the importance of Medicaid coverage for our patients each and every day. Medicaid supports the prescriptions, primary care and other health care services that our patients need,” said Darrin Smith, President of UCHealth Parkview. “Even though Medicaid does not cover the full cost of care, sustaining the funding for this vital program is essential for hospitals, doctors, patients, and our entire state. Any cuts to Medicaid will lead to an increase in uncompensated care and could put access to important services at risk.”
“Rushing to cut over $700 billion, the biggest cuts to health care in history, is unconscionable,” said Adam Fox, Deputy Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “The rulings by the Senate Parliamentarian underscore this is terrible policy rammed through a bad process. Even with the provisions that remain, hundreds of thousands of Coloradans will have their health coverage stripped from them and our health care system and economy will crumble if this passes. This is just like 2017, when Republicans tried to repeal people’s health care with cuts to Medicaid and the ACA with no plan to replace it. They don’t have a plan other than cuts, and they should abandon this effort. Coloradans’ health and lives depend on it.”
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