What if: Medicare ends and Medicaid loses $770 Billion?

Reps. Waxman and Pallone Release New Reports for All 435 Congressional
Districts on Impact of Republican Plans to End Medicare as We Know It and to Slash Medicaid

Jun 3, 2011

Today Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce

Committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., Ranking Member of the Health

Subcommittee, released new analyses detailing the impact of the Republican Medicare and
Medicaid proposals on each congressional district.

Below is the full text of the letter sent by Reps. Waxman and Pallone to their colleagues to
assist them in understanding the ramifications of the epublican Medicare and Medicaid proposals.
* *

June 3, 2011* *

Dear Colleague:* *

            The Republican’s budget would end Medicare as we know it.  It also slashes Medicaid
programs that cover millions of seniors in nursing homes and provide basic coverage for tens of
millions of children. These Republican proposals would have a devastating impact on every
congressional district in the country for generations to come.

            The Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it, raises costs for seniors and
individuals with disabilities, reduces their benefits, and puts private insurance companies in
charge of seniors’ health care.  For current beneficiaries, important benefits – such as closing
the hole in Medicare’s drug coverage – would be immediately eliminated.  For individuals age 54
and under, Medicare’s longstanding guarantee of comprehensive coverage would be replaced
with an inadequate federal subsidy to buy private health insurance.  By design, this federal
contribution will not keep pace with medical costs, shifting thousands of dollars in costs onto
individuals. 

            Similarly, the Republican Medicaid plan eliminates Medicaid’s guarantee of coverage.  
Medicaid would be turned into a block grant, and the federal contribution to Medicaid would be
slashed by nearly $800 billion over the next decade.  Other changes proposed by House
Republicans would allow states to eliminate coverage for seniors, nursing home care, individuals
with disabilities, children, pregnant women, and others currently enrolled in Medicaid.  These
changes would have a profound impact on Medicaid’s ability to provide health coverage to
millions of Americans, and will shift tens of billions of dollars in costs to state taxpayers.

             To assist members in understanding the ramifications of these policies, we asked the
Democratic staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce to analyze the impacts of the
Republican Medicare and Medicaid proposals in every congressional district in the country.

             Today, we are releasing these analyses, which can be found online here
http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?q=page/district-by-district-impact-of-republican-medicare-plan-and-medicaid-cuts

The reports for your district will explain in detail the impacts of Republican Medicare and
Medicaid proposals on your constituents. We hope this information is useful to you and your
constituents as you consider these policies.

Sincerely,

 Henry A. Waxman

 Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce

 Frank Pallone, Jr.

Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce