Malloy: GOP Health Care Bill Costs Connecticut Nearly $7 Billion Through 2026

Republicans’ last-ditch effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act would cost Connecticut nearly $7 billion in federal funds through 2026, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget office concluded Friday.

The new analysis came as Senate Republicans learned Sen. John McCain would not support the latest effort to overturn Obamacare, potentially dooming the legislation before a vote planned for next week.

In a written statement, Malloy said the legislation “eviscerates Medicaid and essentially ends the program as we know it” by shifting it to a block grant format. The move disproportionally impacts states like Connecticut that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. About 200,000 people in the state gained coverage through Medicaid expansion.

By 2026, the Republican proposal anticipates each state receiving the same amount of Medicaid funding on a per-person basis, which would adversely affect Connecticut, a state with higher costs and more generous benefits, according to the analysis by the state Office of Policy and Management.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-obamacare-repeal-almost-dead-20170922-story.html