Debate: Should Biden Extend COVID-Era Medicaid Relief?

Our tax experts discuss whether providing additional Medicaid coverage is necessary.

The government is in the process of ending one of the last remaining COVID-19-era safety nets: expanded Medicaid coverage. Nearly 5.5 million Americans have been pushed from the Medicaid rolls as states have ended expanded Medicaid coverage.

Now, some are calling on the Biden administration to take action to ensure these Americans continue to have access to quality health coverage even in our post-COVID-19 world — typically, by ensuring that Medicaid is not un-enrolling Americans for simple procedural errors.

We asked two professors and authors of ALM’s Tax Facts with opposing political viewpoints to share their opinions about whether President Joe Biden should act to provide additional coverage after the end of COVID-19-era Medicaid relief.

Below is a summary of the debate that ensued between the two professors.

Their Votes:

Bloink
Byrnes

Their Reasons:

Bloink: We’re talking about millions of Americans who are set to lose Medicaid coverage. We’re also talking about the most vulnerable lower-income Americans. The Biden administration has to find some way to respond to this impending problem, which in reality will impact all Americans who will be forced to absorb the health care costs of former Medicaid recipients who can’t pay themselves.

Byrnes: States and Medicaid recipients have had months to adjust to our return-to-normal, post-COVID-19 policies. We’re talking about temporary measures that were enacted in response to an unprecedented global pandemic. These relief provisions were never intended to be permanent, and it’s time to put an end to them.

Bloink: Financial professionals follow financial news and have had ample time to digest the changes — but the average Medicaid recipient is unlikely to be reading the same news stories. They’re also the least likely to be seeking advice from a financial professional or health care advisor. To say that Americans have had ample time to adjust to the end of COVID-19-era Medicaid relief is a vast oversimplification of the facts.

Byrnes: We can’t now expect that every relief measure should extend into the long term or be made permanent. It’s time to return to normal, which means it’s time for the government to stop giving out handouts left and right. That’s true when it comes to health care and on other fronts, as well.

Bloink: Many of the people who have been pushed from the Medicaid rolls have simply made procedural errors. They may still be eligible for coverage under pre-COVID-19 rules, but since people have moved or failed to update contact information, they are simply losing coverage. We’ve already granted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services authority to ensure people aren’t losing coverage for procedural reasons. Now, the Biden administration has to step forward and act to ensure that CMS is actually exercising that authority.

Byrnes: Strict procedures exist in the Medicaid world for a reason. Medicaid is designed only as a last-ditch safety net for the poorest Americans out there. We must have procedural safeguards in place to ensure that the system isn’t being taken advantage of by taxpayers who don’t actually qualify for Medicaid coverage. When those procedures aren’t followed, there’s no need for the president to step in and hold the hands of taxpayers who simply failed to follow the rules.

Images: Adobe Stock

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