by Marc Cohen and Kris Wiitala

This post originally appeared on McCormack’s Gerontology Institute blog.

Both the House-passed version of ACA repeal legislation, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), and the Senate’s version currently under deliberation – the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) – include a particularly debilitating change: a per capita cap system of funding for Medicaid. This change would dramatically cut federal Medicaid funding to states. It would force states to make difficult decisions between benefit cuts, provider payment cuts, and changes to eligibility requirements – or all of these in varying measure – in order to balance their budgets. Analyses have pointed out how a per capita cap system would lead to significant underfunding of long-term services and supports (LTSS), penalize adults and children with disabilities, lead to significant shortfalls in state funding, and cause financial challenges for providers.  Continue reading.