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Weighing the CO Impact of Cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

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Thursday, July 14, 2011   

DENVER - Nearly $100 million a year. Those are the proposed Medicaid cuts to Colorado alone in the current federal debt-reduction discussions.

As Congress and President Obama discuss cuts in Medicaid and other "entitlement" programs such as Social Security and Medicare as part of talks to raise the debt ceiling, some Coloradans are asking them to consider the economic impacts of those cuts.

Adela Flores-Brennan, an attorney with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), says a 5 percent reduction just to Colorado's federal Medicaid funding would cost the state more than 2,500 jobs.

"Federal cuts to Medicaid will merely shift costs to the states that continue to struggle to balance their own budgets. We simply cannot afford to support severe cuts to health care to the most vulnerable while protecting tax cuts for the wealthiest."

Programs such as Medicaid have what's known as a multiplier effect, she says, benefiting not only recipients and doctors but also associated businesses in a community as well. The Obama administration proposal to cut Medicaid spending by $100 billion over 10 years could translate into a loss of $250 million in business activity in Colorado annually.

The CCLP, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents Colorado's public employees, all are calling on Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both D-Colo., to reject cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare in any deal to raise the debt ceiling.

Udall says he understands those concerns - but believes some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act can help ease the loss of federal funds. Putting off reforms really isn't an option, Udall says.

"This is so important to get at this now. If we push it off again, thinking somehow it will be easier in 2013 after the next election, I think we're kidding ourselves."

But pediatrician Steve Federico, president of the Colorado AAP chapter, says that while the cuts may help with federal spending issues, they'll do nothing to change the needs of the children who rely on this care.

"It is a shortsighted solution in that we know that if we care for children and provide preventive care on the front end, the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term costs."

Any cuts, Federico says, fail to address the elephant in the room: the growing cost of health care overall.

A calculator to determine the impact of Medicaid cuts is online at familiesusa.org.


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