Washington Is at War Over Block Granting Medicaid

Block grants are the latest chapter in an unfolding fight between the White House and Capitol Hill Democrats over the future of Medicaid, the Washington Post reports. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar last week announced the "Healthy Adult Opportunity" program, in which states can agree to receive a lump-sum payment to finance care for adults who become eligible for Medicaid when the 2010 health-care law expanded it. As with many current health policy debates, the rhetoric around this issue has often been heated and emotional. Republican legislators have long complained that the safety-net program is not only overly burdensome to state budgets, but doesn't contain enough incentives for people to better their own lives. Verma contends that the block grants will give states greater control over their own spending and allow them to more nimbly respond to the needs of their enrollees.