Experts Available: Medicaid Block Grants Plan

Director of Communications

On Thursday, January 29th, the Trump administration will roll out a new plan that allows states to convert some of their Medicaid funding into block grants. This change has important implications for healthcare, hospitals, and patients across the country. If you’re looking for expert sources on this topic, the following researchers are available and happy to comment:

Benjamin D. Sommers

Harvard School of Public Health

“Shifting Medicaid to block grants threatens health gains and could cause major disruptions to state budgets, hospitals and providers, and most importantly, the health care received by millions of Americans."

Philip Rocco

Marquette University

"Because conservatives' social policy goals are politically unpopular and legislatively impossible in the current Congress, the administration has turned to using the bureaucracy to fulfill its goals. They are using a form of authority––subregulatory guidance––that many conservatives criticized during the Obama administration."

Lindsey Haynes-Maslow

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Research and history show that federally-funded programs that switch to block-grant formulas can negatively impact people that rely on them. Instead of spending funding on the program, states can substitute the funding for unrelated services."

Robert I. Field

Drexel University

“Medicaid is the financial foundation for most pediatric and many community hospitals that serve patients of all incomes. It is also the financial support for many frail elderly in nursing homes and families of children with developmental disabilities, such as autism.”

Pamela Herd, Georgetown University, Email: [email protected]

"Medicaid block grants will negatively impact the most vulnerable Americans, including the elderly and disabled who receive nearly 60 percent of Medicaid dollars. Even if populations such as the disabled are excluded, the overall reduction in state funding due to block grants will impact all beneficiaries."

Phillip Singer, The University of Utah, Email: [email protected]

“The implementation of block grants on Medicaid programs and populations will have far-reaching and potentially negative effects on Medicaid patients, the health care organizations that serve them, and the states that administer the program.”

Steven Sylvester, Utah Valley University, Email: [email protected]

“Medicaid block grants will have a negative impact on health care and state budgets, and put unnecessary pressure on rural hospitals. With less money in the state Medicaid program, more seniors will be required to pay out of pocket, directly impacting the most vulnerable populations.”

Nicole Huberfeld, Boston University, Email: [email protected]

"Converting Medicaid to block grants may be a conservative Holy Grail, but it's not legal. The administration cannot repeal the ACA through administrative action."