A Connecticut lawmaker said thousands of state residents would lose their health care coverage if the U.S. Congress approves a Republican budget proposal currently under consideration.
The GOP proposal released on Sunday would save $880 billion, Congressional Republicans said.
State Senator Matthew Lesser (D-Middletown), the co-chair of Connecticut’s Human Services Committee, said the proposal would make changes to Medicaid that would be devastating for Connecticut residents.
“For hundreds of thousands of people in Connecticut, they are going to find more paperwork than they have ever seen before, because the paperwork onslaught is how they think they are going to save some money to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” he said.
“It blankets everyone on Medicaid with a huge amount of paperwork. Designed to force millions of families and providers off the program,” he said.
Another provision would penalize Connecticut for providing health care for undocumented children.
“What the bill says or seems to say is that Connecticut would lose 10% of its federal funding if we use our own money to cover that,” Lesser said.
He said such a provision is unconstitutional and would have to be challenged in court.
“We cannot let this happen,” said Senator Saud Anwar (D-Windsor), a physician and co-chair of the Public Health Committee.
“I know what happens when people lose access to care: diseases go untreated, suffering multiplies, lives are lost. This is not a policy debate. This is a matter of life and death,” Anwar said.
Connecticut spends about $10 billion a year on Medicaid, half of which comes from the federal government.
