Merkley, Wyden Call on Oz to Resolve Chaos as States Implement Trumpcare

Merkley, Wyden Call on Oz to Resolve Chaos as States Implement Trumpcare

Despite Republican Efforts to Roll Back Improvements to Medicaid and Medicare, Democrats Used Senate Rules to Preserve More than a Dozen Policies; State Medicaid Programs Have Received Minimal Direction from the Trump Administration About How to Implement These Roll Backs or Preserve Remaining Policies, Raising Specter of Confusion, Lost Coverage and Higher Costs for Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, called on the leadership of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to help states preserve key protections in Medicaid for children, seniors, and people with disabilities that were not repealed as a part of Trumpcare, amid confusion about how the massive Republican cuts will be implemented across the country.

"Trump and Republicans falsely claim their budget bill will be of no consequence for these populations, but the needless delay of these policies proves otherwise. Trumpcare will terminate coverage and increase costs for these communities, while also compromising access to safe, quality care for our nation's most vulnerable," the senators wrote.

The letter, sent to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, comes as state leaders report a lack of clarity about which policies within a set of Biden-era regulations delayed for nine years by Trumpcare will remain in effect. Democrats preserved 15 policy provisions within these rules that make health care more affordable and accessible for Americans.

"Thankfully, Senate Democrats successfully preserved select, critical provisions within these rules, such as prohibiting states from imposing annual and lifetime benefit limits for kids in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), ensuring low-income seniors gain Medicaid coverage for their Medicare Part A premiums, and improving assessment and transparency tools nursing homes use to make sure there is sufficient staff," the senators continued.

The letter asks CMS to make clear how they will inform states about how to correctly implement the law to ensure Americans are not needlessly harmed by misinformation and confusion beyond the already-catastrophic impact the almost $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid will cause to American families.

The full letter can be found here.

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