National media attention
has focused on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) drastic restructuring of the Medicare
program, detailing the Vice Presidential candidate’s efforts to transform the
current benefit guarantee into a “premium support” program for future
enrollees.
But Romney/Ryan’s most devastating changes would impact programs that serve society’s most vulnerable
citizens. American who rely on Medicaid, food stamps and Pell grants won’t be
afforded the luxury of retaining their existing benefits, should Romney and
Ryan implement their plans; these programs would experience immediate reductions
if the Ryan budget becomes law (viaCBPP):
1. CUTS
FOOD STAMPS BY $133 BILLION: Ryan’s
budget would send the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food
stamps) back to the states as a block grant and cut the program by $134 billion.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “an average of almost 10 million peoplewould
have to be cut from the program in the years from 2016 through 2022 to achieve
the required savings.” If the cuts were to come from benefits, rather than
kicking families out of the program, “All families of four — including the
poorest — would see their benefits cut by about $90 a month in fiscal year
2016, or more than $1,100 on an annual
basis.” Ryan continually claims that the food stamp program is “unsustainable,” even
though the numbers show that’s simply not the case.
2. CUTS
MEDICAID BY 1/3: Ryan
would treat Medicaid in the same way: transform the exiting matching-grant
financing structure into a pre-determined block grant that will not keep up
with actual health care spending and send it back to the states. This would
shift some of the burden of Medicaid’s growing costs to the states, forcing
them to — in the words of the CBO — make cutbacks that “involve reduced eligibility for
Medicaid and CHIP,
coverage of fewer services, lower payments to providers, or increased cost
sharing by beneficiaries—all of which would reduce access to care.” The
reductions to Medicaid kick in right away: between 2013 and 2022, the budget
makes $1.4 trillion in cuts to
Medicaid —a 34
percent reduction. As a result, states could reduce enrollment by more than 14 million people,
or almost 20 percent—even if they are were able to slow the growth in health
care costs substantially.
3. 30
MILLION AMERICANS WOULD LOSE HEALTH COVERAGE: Romney
and Ryan would repeal the Affordable Care Act, including the subsidies for
middle-class Americans to purchase coverage and the expansion of the Medicaid
program for lower-income Americans. As a result, more than 30 million Americans
would lose access to insurance. The popular regulations that prohibit insurers
from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and rescinding
coverage would also be repealed.
4. CUTS
PELL GRANTS FOR 1 MILLION STUDENTS: Ryan
consistently claims that increases in financial aid are driving up the cost of
higher education, even though evidence doesn’t back him up. The budget Ryan
authored, according to an analysis by the Education Trust, would eliminate Pell
Grants entirely for one million students. In 2011, 74 percent of Pell Grant
recipients had family incomes of $30,000 or less. These cuts would come despite
the fact that the price of a college degree has skyrocketed 1,120 percent over the last three decades.
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