News & Media
House Reconciliation Bill Includes Harmful Medicaid Cuts While Stabilizing Medicare Payments
Answers as to how the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee would find $880 billion in savings over the next 10 years came to light this week as the Committee released, conducted a markup of, and advanced its plan which includes over $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and other health programs. Proposed changes to Medicaid include work requirements, stricter eligibility requirements, new cost-sharing requirements, enrollment and renewal revisions, and limits on the use of provider taxes. If enacted, these changes will shift billions of dollars in spending to the states and result in the loss of health coverage for millions of adults and children. Click here to read the Health Subtitle.
In Michigan, more than 2.6 million residents – 1 in 4 people in our state – depend on Medicaid for essential care. If Congress enacts proposed Medicaid cuts, every Michigander will feel the impact, not just Medicaid recipients, because if a hospital or clinic closes or a job is lost, everyone will bear the weight of those changes. Over $2 billion in federal funding to Michigan in 2026 is at risk, as well as $4.9 billion in lost economic activity. MSMS is one of over 150 organizations that have joined together via The Protect MI Care Coalition to oppose harmful Medicaid and CHIP funding reductions. The Coalition recently sent a letter to Michigan’s Congressional Delegation urging them say No to Medicaid cuts. You, too, can send your legislators a message by completing the form available on the Coalition’s website.
Contrary to the devasting cuts noted above, there is currently a provision in the bill (section 44304) to stop the annual Medicare reductions to physician reimbursement by providing a positive payment update of 75 percent of the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) for 2026. According to a summary by the American Medical Association (AMA), “this payment update, unlike the temporary updates of the last several years that ended in a cliff, will be permanently built into baseline physician payment rates. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has scored the permanent update provision at $ 8.9 billion over ten years. In addition, the bill eliminates the dual conversion factor update of 0.25 percent of most physicians and 0.75 percent for Alternative Payment Model participants and replaces them with a single conversion factor update for 2027 and beyond at 10 percent of the MEI.”
MSMS will continue its advocacy against steep Medicaid cuts, while also supporting a long-overdue proposal to help stabilize Medicare physician payments.