PROVIDENCE, RI -- As a vote on Trumpcare looms in the U.S. Senate, there is rising concern in Rhode Island that the drastic Medicaid cuts in the Republican bill will leave more children uninsured and take money away from students with special needs and school districts across the state.  Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed and U.S. Representative David Cicilline joined with child advocates from Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, educators, and pediatricians to outline how Trumpcare cuts could jeopardize children’s health and education funding in Rhode Island.

The Senate Trumpcare bill proposes slashing federal Medicaid investments by $772 billion, or 26 percent through 2026.  And a new, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis shows the Trumpcare Medicaid cuts would be even deeper -- 35 percent -- in the following decade. 

Medicaid is a cost-effective federal-state program that helps cover essential medical expenses for children and families living in or near poverty, children with disabilities and special needs, children in foster care, and pregnant women and newborns in low-income households. 

Today, over 30 million children nationwide, including 117,000 Rhode Islanders, rely on Medicaid to help them stay healthy.  The massive Medicaid cuts now included in the Senate Trumpcare bill would seriously jeopardize access to quality health care for these children.  Additionally, many school districts rely on Medicaid to support the medical services necessary to enable students with disabilities to attend school. AASA, a national association for school system leaders, estimates that school districts receive between $4 billion and $5 billion annually in Medicaid reimbursements.

School districts bill Medicaid for health and behavioral services and are reimbursed through a mix of state and federal dollars administered by the state.  In the most recent school year for which statistics are available, Rhode Island schools received over $64 million in Medicaid funding, according to a Center of Budget and Policy Priorities report.  The report shows that about half, or $32,464,511 of Rhode Island schools’ reimbursement, came from federal funding.

These funds help pay for nurses, social workers, occupational and speech therapists and medical equipment like walkers and wheelchairs.  Medicaid also helps fund preventive health services for low-income students, including immunizations and screenings for hearing, vision, and chronic conditions.

Last year, Medicaid reimbursed Providence Public Schools $4.9 million in services for students with IEPs.  The school district is obligated by federal law to provide these important services, such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, case management, transportation, nursing and personal care – with or without the assurance of Medicaid reimbursement.

“The cuts in the proposed Trumpcare bill would undermine Rhode Island’s ability to provide children with special needs with access to vital health care that enables them to go to school.  If enacted, the Trumpcare cuts to Medicaid would have a domino effect that could drain critical resources from special education programs and force schools to pull funds from other vital areas to fill the funding gap,” said Senator Reed.  “Health care and education go hand in hand and many schools use Medicaid to pay for things like vision, hearing, and mental health screenings.  Cutting funds for those programs will lead to fewer kids getting help and could lead to greater costs for treatment down the road.  While Trumpcare would reduce federal contributions to states, it won’t reduce the need for affordable health care – it simply shifts a greater burden to states to fill the gaps resulting from lost federal dollars.  It will also increase pressure on other funding needs, including public schools, nutrition programs, and child care.”

“Every Rhode Islander should have access to quality, affordable health care as a matter of right, and not of privilege. That’s why it’s so important that we continue fighting to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and defeat Trumpcare,” said Congressman Cicilline. “This bill is nothing more than an attempt to take away health care from seniors, working people, and children in order to give insurance companies and the wealthiest 1% a huge tax cut. If Trumpcare becomes law, thousands of Rhode Island children will lose access to the care they need. We can’t allow that to happen.”

According to the Rhode Island Annual Medicaid Expenditure Report, Rhode Island’s Medicaid program received over $1.2 billion from the federal government to serve approximately 325,000 Rhode Islanders last fiscal year.  The report also shows that children and families account for 54 percent of total enrollment and $537 million in annual expenditures.

The uninsured population in Rhode Island would rise dramatically if Trumpcare is enacted, according to the Urban Institute, which released a report this week showing that 104,000 more Rhode Islanders would go without insurance under the GOP plan.

While states like Rhode Island would be hit hard by Trumpcare, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently estimated that, in a nation of 321 million Americans, a mere 400 Americans would get tax breaks worth about $33 billion from 2019 through 2028 under the House-passed Trumpcare bill.