GOP Seeks to End Guarantee of Medicaid Coverage, Report Says

Republicans negotiating a welfare bill intend to eliminate the guarantee of health insurance coverage for many welfare recipients, the New York Times reports in today’s editions.

The newspaper said a confidential draft of a report by the House-Senate conference committee revealed this little-noticed addition to the bill that is awaiting final action in Congress.

Versions of the welfare bill initially passed by both chambers would have retained the guarantee of Medicaid coverage for anyone qualifying for cash assistance under the standards in effect on June 1, 1995.

The latest version of the welfare bill would go even further than the budget bill vetoed last week by President Clinton in giving states wide latitude to decide who receives what Medicaid benefits, the newspaper reported.

It said that the bill would sever the link between welfare and Medicaid that has existed since the health insurance program was established in 1965 and it would limit the states’ ability to expand eligibility for Medicaid.

According to the newspaper, the new bill says, “A state is not required to provide medical assistance to any individual under the Medicaid program on the basis that the individual is receiving aid or assistance” in the form of Aid to Families With Dependent Children, foster care payments or adoption assistance.

Clinton has already threatened to veto the welfare bill and the elimination of the link between welfare and Medicaid might give him another reason to do so, the newspaper said.