What is happening in Washington, DC?

The federal government has nearly reached the statutory limit on the federal debt. If the debt ceiling is not increased by August 2 and the U.S. begins to default on its obligations, financial markets here and around the world would be impacted. In addition, a "broad range of government payments would have to be stopped, limited or delayed, including military salaries, Social Security and Medicare payments, interest on debt, unemployment benefits and tax refunds."  

There are many proposals being discussed in Washington DC to balance the budget. What they have in common is that Medicaid spending would need to be dramatically cut in a short period of time. They include:

• Block Granting Medicaid: this would give states a fixed amount of money for health care and long term services and would likely remove requirements for how the states spend the money.
• Spending Caps: these caps would set a limit on federal spending that is well below current spending and would likely result in a Medicaid block grant.

Details of the budget discussions are limited at this time, but it is known that cuts to Medicaid are on the table in all of these proposals. These cuts would dramatically reduce essential services.

What can you do?

It is expected that Congress will vote on legislation to cut the deficit before the end of July, and it is not known yet what that will mean for Medicaid. Now is the time to tell your Senators and Representatives what Medicaid means to you and how the loss of medical and other services would impact your life.