Lake County officials warn proposed federal reconciliation package could cut Medicaid, SNAP and shift costs to counties

Rachel Mackey of Paragon Government Relations told the Lake County Board of Supervisors on the county’s federal legislative update that newly released reconciliation text in the U.S. House would make substantial changes to safety-net programs that could affect local benefits and county operations.

"We have been worried most about what this proposal could mean for Medicaid and for SNAP," said Rachel Mackey, Paragon Government Relations, during the board’s discussion. She said text released ahead of House committee markups would cut Medicaid by roughly $700 billion over 10 years and seek about $300 billion in SNAP reductions over the same period.

The change could take several forms, Mackey said: a 10-percentage-point reduction in the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for expansion populations in some states, limits on states’ use of provider taxes, more frequent eligibility redeterminations and mandatory work requirements. "The legislation would also force eligibility redeterminations to go from yearly to every six months," Mackey said, and described an "80-hour-a-month requirement" for certain Medicaid recipients. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the combined Medicaid and Affordable Care Act provisions in the draft could lead to about 13.7 million people losing coverage over 10 years.

Local officials…