GOP Budget Alert: Governors Oppose Chairman Ryan's Medicaid Plan
April 5, 2011
Yesterday, 17 Governors from across the country wrote Congressional leaders to declare their opposition to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) plan on Medicaid that would slash support for seniors in nursing homes and health care for children and Americans with disabilities:
We strongly oppose a congressionally-mandated block grant of federal Medicaid spending, which would shift costs and risk to states. Such a cost shift would severely undercut our ability to provide health care to our residents and adequately pay providers…In the face of state and federal budget pressures and rising health care costs, we need federal policy that creates cost savings, not cost shifting. States are already innovating within Medicaid, and the current financing system provides ample room to manage our Medicaid programs to provide increasingly efficient quality care.
Republicans should listen to the American people's call to strengthen the health safety net for millions in our country and work with Democrats to reduce the deficit in a responsible way.