In New York, the Affordable Care Act accounted for about $3.7 billion a year for increased Medicaid coverage. A repeal of the act could affect 2.7 million New York residents, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.– FLT article by Steve Buchiere
A report on Tom Reed’s proposals for welfare reform appeared in The Finger Lakes Times in an article by Steve Buchiere. As usual, Reed’s proposals are not so much reform as efforts to limit access, reduce benefits, and save money. The article mentions these proposals:
- Hands-Up Act
- Affordable Care Act
- Patient Freedom Act
Reed says the Hands-Up Act is designed to give states flexibility in administering programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). He says the legislation is an effort to “make sure more money gets to those who need it and reduces government overhead.
Steve Buchiere writes:
Reed touched on progress of repealing the Affordable Care Act and what Republicans are doing to ensure a replacement is in place to ensure that everyone who wants healthcare coverage has access.
“Has access” is far different than universal coverage which is essential to affordable cost.
Steve Buchiere writes that Reed
…touched on possible support for the Patient Freedom Act, which would allow states to keep the components of the Affordable Care Act if they so choose — with federal support — or receive a similar amount of federal money for participants to use to purchase health insurance.
Everyone needs health care. I see no reason that benefits should vary from state to state or any reason to think that cash-starved states would be better able to administer health care programs than the Federal Government. I see proposals to turn the problem over to the states as a cop-out which has been tried without much success many times in the past.
© William Hungerford – January 26, 1017
https://reed.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reed-cares-poor
