A social justice advocacy group shot back on Tuesday after Tennessee unveiled a plan to switch the state’s Medicaid program into a block grant program.
“A block grant is a Medicaid cut in disguise, and Tennessee should not be fooled,” said the Tennessee Justice Center.
The state released details of the proposal (pdf) Tuesday.
Any overhaul of TennCare would need the approval of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Trump administration—to the ire of healthcare and anti-poverty advocates—has been gunning for states to make such a switch.
“If Tennessee garners federal approval on a policy to cut Medicaid funds—and survives the subsequent lawsuits it’d surely face—it would encourage other conservative states to do the same,” reported Axios. “This would be a radical change to the medical safety net for the nation’s poorest citizens.”
As The Associated Press reported, “Currently, the federal government pays a percentage of each state’s Medicaid costs, no matter how much they rise in any given year. For Tennessee, that means receiving approximately $7.5 billion in federal money for its $12.1 billion Medicaid program, or 65 percent.”
CNN laid out how things could change for the state under the proposal:
Though it may differ from a typical block grant plan, critics say there’s still plenty of reason for concern.
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