Defending Against Medicaid Block Grants

from Community Catalyst: Today, the state of Tennessee released a proposal to block grant the TennCare program, signaling a new existential threat to Medicaid and to those who rely on the program for their health coverage. For months, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been rumored to be developing new guidance inviting states to block grant Medicaid– and while CMS has yet to act, the Tennessee administration is taking the bait. Tennessee's proposal undoubtedly means cuts to Medicaid, potentially harming the health and well-being of tens of thousands of Tennesseans. In anticipation of this threat to Medicaid, the Together for Medicaid team worked with the communications firm GMMB to develop a new communications toolkit: Defending Against Block Grants and Other Cuts to Medicaid. The toolkit provides effective communications tools for state health advocates and their partners to speak out against these harmful changes to Medicaid.

Download our toolkit: Defending Against Block Grants and Other Cuts to Medicaid

While these developments are new, Medicaid opponents have been pushing for block grants in Medicaid for years, including most recently during the 2017 ACA repeal fight. We have beat back this threat before and we can do it again. These proposals threaten expansion and non-expansion states alike – if states like Tennessee that have not even closed the coverage gap are able to restructure their traditional Medicaid program all states are potentially at risk. All of us must do our part now to push back against these devastating cuts.