If we had a nickel for every time Mike Lawler voted to gut Medicaid and then sent a letter asking other public officials to clean up his mess, we’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?
Mike Lawler, along with the other six Republican members of New York’s Congressional delegation, have sent yet another meaningless letter – this time begging the Trump Administration to preserve billions in Medicaid fundingjust weeks after Lawler voted to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history for the second time this year.
New York hospitals and health care providers have already sounded the alarm over cuts to essential services, patient care, staff members, and budgets as a result of Lawler’s vote to pass the Big, Ugly Bill – which is set to leave 63,000 health care workers in New York without employment.
Now, Lawler is once again hoping this letter will save him from backlash over his vote to gut health care for millions of Americans.
All seven of New York’s Republican representatives in Congress signed a letter to the Trump administration asking for leeway to continue a tax on health plans that was expected to bring in more than $3 billion for Medicaid and other public health programs over the next three years.
That is expected to be cut in half under President Donald Trump’s reconciliation package, passed along party lines, and could be cut entirely if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approve a proposed rule that would kill the tax later this year – something New York Republicans are pushing to avoid.
“This approach undermines the flexibility Congress included and would place hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care providers in New York at a serious disadvantage,” reads the letter.
New York is slated to get $1.8 billion in the current fiscal year to cover Medicaid payments and hundreds of millions of dollars for hospitals, nursing homes and community clinics.
Losing that would be worse for the nursing home industry than similar so-called provider taxes that were preserved in the megabill, even as the equivalents for hospitals and other providers are being phased out, said Stephen Hanse, president of the NYS Health Facilities Association. The state budget included a $445 million increase in Medicaid spending for nursing homes in the current fiscal year and another $385 million next year to be paid for using proceeds from the tax.
