The third
Medicaid block grant fight is theoretically still under way: it was a feature of the "Ryan budget" passed twice by House Republicans in 2011 and 2012.
What if Ryan's
Medicaid block grant had taken effect in 2000?
These four policies - replicating the experimentation that led to welfare reform, a right-sized plan to deal with pre-existing conditions, assisting those not currently in stable employer-based insurance plans, and a thoughtful
Medicaid block grant - are practical alternatives to a health care policy doomed to fail either in the courts or in the court of public opinion.
And there's a whiff of coercion to the way in which the states are offered the option of switching to the
Medicaid block grant. The states, which have already started cutting Medicaid on their own, are literally begging for federal fiscal assistance, and none is forthcoming.
President Clinton vetoed the congressional budget legislation creating the
Medicaid block grant. In the budget message for the 1977 fiscal year and testimony before Congress on the measure, the Clinton administration put forward an alternative vision that emphasized intergovernmental collaboration and experimentation.
What kind of health reform is it that would move children under a
Medicaid block grant so that instead of having 9.5 million uninsured, you'll get 19 million uninsured children by 2002?
* State officials assume that the
Medicaid block grant will be enacted into law.
Less than a week before West and Ziegler lobbied the House and Senate committees, 11 members of the New York congressional delegation and four Texas representatives urged House Commerce Committee Chairman Representative Thomas Bliley (R., Va.) to maintain drug manufacturer rebates in any
Medicaid block grant legislation, saying that it was one of the best ways for states to manage their Medicaid prescription program expenditures.
"
Medicaid Block Grant Would Slash Federal Funding, Shift Costs to States, and Leave Millions More Uninsured." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, November 2016.