House Lawmaker’s Bill Would Add $15 Billion Annually to Highway Trust Fund
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) introduced legislation this month that he said would add up to $15 billion a year to the Highway Trust Fund over the next decade through changes to the Medicaid expansion match rates established under President Obama’s signature health-care law.
Specifically, the "Prioritizing American Roads and Jobs Act†would take Medicaid expansion and roll back the reimbursements from the program. Meaning, instead of a 100% match rate on able-bodied, working-age adults receiving Medicaid expansion benefits, the measure would roll the reimbursement to traditional Medicaid rates. That averages 56% cost on the federal side, while states pick up 44% of the cost, according to the congressman’s office.
“Obamacare is complicated, but undoing an egregious flaw in the Medicaid expansion component of the law should not be,†Westerman said in a statement. “The bill I introduced … would free up more than $15 billion per year in mandatory spending that is going only to the three out of five states that expanded Medicaid. And estimates show this change could save $300 billion over 10 years. Roughly one-half could be used to build and fix roads in all 50 states while the rest could be used to reduce our national budget deficit.â€
The measure was sent to the Energy and Commerce Committee.