Health Reform Recommendations

The Partnership for Medicaid has 14 reommendations for comprehensive health reform.

1. Universal coverage and access

2. Expand Medicaid eligibility for all Americans up to a certain level of poverty

3. Preserve the Federal guarantee of Medicaid coverage, services, and consumer protections

4. Improve provider and health plan reimbursement rates in Medicaid to ensure broad access and funding stability for safety net providers, including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Ensure that new subsidized coverage plans adequately pay healthcare providers.

5. Retain DSH payments which preserve healthcare access for low-income patients

6. Continue Graduate Medical Education (GME) payments to ensure a high quality and adequate physician workforce

7. Strengthen Medicaid financing by adding an automatic countercyclical mechanism to increase the federal FMAP share in economic downturns

8. Provide access to fair pharmaceutical pricing

9. Maintain state flexibility and continue Medicaid as a testing ground for innovation

10. Simplify enrollment procedures and encourage outreach to eligible but unenrolled individuals

11. Coordinate public and private programs to meet the needs of those with special health care needs

12. Initiate substantial long-term care financing reform

13. Quality improvement

14. Reduce waste, fraud, and abuse through a coordinated, systematic approach

Download these Health Reform Recommendations to read offline (PDF).