The repeal of the Affordable Care Act, as well as Block Grants would cause millions of people to lose their dental care. The new proposal that could happen under President Donald Trump, will affect dental coverage for millions. This would be due to the way the administration and Congressional Republicans indicates they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act and restructure medicaid into something called a Block Grant Program.
Key Takeaways:
- In particular, President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan have all proposed both repealing the Affordable Care Act and restructuring Medicaid into a block grant program
- Budget reconciliation legislation that would repeal key portions of the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion, and possible proposals within the same bill to convert Medicaid into a block grant would harm the ability of Americans to both access and afford adequate dental care.
- States that hadn’t previously expanded or applied to expand their Medicaid programs following the ACA, 19 states as of the time the article reference below was written, would lose access to federal funds to support an expansion of eligibility requirements.
“If a proposed block grant proposal in a reconciliation bill is similar to the 2017 House budget proposal, which would have cut federal Medicaid funding by $1 trillion over ten years in addition to cuts from repealing Medicaid expansion, federal Medicaid funding would be expected to decrease by 33% by the tenth year of the plan’s passage.”