Hawley seeks to repeal Medicaid cuts he voted for
Hawley on Tuesday introduced new legislation to roll back some of the Medicaid cuts that were included in the massive tax cut law, which passed the Senate two weeks ago and was signed into law by President Trump on July 4.
Hawley's bill would repeal provisions that limit states' ability to levy taxes on health providers to receive more money from the federal government.
The bill also seeks to repeal a cap on state-directed payments, which allows states to direct how providers are paid by privately run managed care plans.
'Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect,' Hawley said in a statement. 'I want to see Medicaid reductions stopped and rural hospitals fully funded permanently,' he added.
Hawley's bill would boost a $50 billion fund aimed at helping rural hospitals by adding an additional $50 billion, and extending it from five years to ten.
Experts have said $50 billion isn't nearly enough to make up for the impact of the cuts. According to a KFF analysis, federal Medicaid spending in rural areas is estimated to decline by $155 billion over a decade because of the bill.
Hawley was one of the most outspoken senators regarding Medicaid cuts in the runup to voting on Trump's domestic policy law. He repeatedly said he wanted to protect Medicaid and warned against making any cuts to the program.
But the legislation he ultimately voted for cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid.
While most of the cuts won't happen immediately, rural facilities say they likely will have to make difficult financial decisions about which services they can afford to keep and which may need to be cut.
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