White House proposes $7 billion cut to CHIP, $800 million cut to CMMI
The White House has requested huge spending cuts to key health several key health programs, including one that provides coverage to low-income children.
President Donald Trump is asking Congress to initiate $15 billion in funding cuts across the federal government, including a $7 billion cut to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The White House proposal said the cuts would have "no programmatic impact."
Democrats quickly jumped on the funding cuts, linking them to the GOP's tax plan.
Let’s be honest about this: @POTUS & the GOP are looking to tear apart CHIP, hurting middle-class families & low-income children, to appease the most conservative special interests & feel better about blowing up the deficit to give the wealthy & biggest corps huge tax breaks.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 7, 2018
Meanwhile, the president also proposed slashing $800 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), tasked with overseeing value-based payment demonstrations. The budget request indicated the funds were "in excess of amounts needed to carry out the Innovation Center's planned activities" in 2018 and 2019. White House proposal (PDF)
Louisiana prepares to kick 37,000 off Medicaid
Louisiana is preparing to notify 37,000 people currently on Medicaid that they will no longer be eligible for coverage after July 1.
Of that total, 20,000 are in nursing homes or have intellectual disabilities, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The notices are being sent a month after the Louisiana House passed cuts to four Medicaid programs.
"We can't just afford to bury our heads in the sand," Jay Dardenne, Gov. John Bel Edwards' chief budget officer and the state's commissioner of administration told the newspaper. "We tried to delay this as long as we possibly can." Times-Picayune article
CMS gives Illinois the go-ahead on behavioral health waiver
CMS has approved a Medicaid waiver from Illinois, allowing the state to proceed with a $2 billion behavioral health initiative that includes 10 different pilot projects.
The program looks to improve outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries suffering from mental health and substance abuse disorders. The $2 billion in existing Medicaid funding will be dispersed across the pilot programs that focus on interventions, case management and home health, created during a 30-month effort across several state agencies. Release