- Associated Press - Tuesday, March 7, 2017

BOSTON (AP) - Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday his administration was still reviewing details of the health care bill rolled out by GOP leaders in the U.S. House, but he expressed concern about potential changes in Medicaid funding and the prospect of less flexibility for states to determine their health care needs.

“We want to make sure that we continue to be a state where virtually everybody is covered and people feel they have the access they need and the coverage they need to stay healthy,” Baker said.

Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey warned in a statement that the Republican plan would slash funding for health care programs in Massachusetts.

The state’s landmark 2006 health care law, passed under former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, served as a blueprint for former President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul that Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump have vowed to repeal and replace.

Massachusetts over the past decade has consistently had the nation’s lowest rate of uninsured residents.

In January, Baker wrote to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy urging that Congress avoid shifting cost burdens for health care to states and cautioning against replacing the current open-ended federal Medicaid reimbursement system with fixed grants to states.

The House GOP bill would overhaul federal financing of Medicaid. Starting with the 2020 fiscal year, each state would receive a limited, per-beneficiary amount based on enrollment and costs.

Any reduction in federal reimbursements could make it difficult for Massachusetts to maintain the state’s comparatively generous eligibility and benefit standards for MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program which provides coverage for almost 1.9 million residents.

Just before the November election, the Obama administration approved a five-year, $52.4 billion Medicaid waiver for Massachusetts that Baker said would allow MassHealth to transition from a fee-based system to one that promotes more coordinated and cost-efficient care for patients.

“Without any estimate of the (House GOP) bill’s costs or impacts, it proposes to raise premiums on the elderly, dismantle assistance for the vulnerable, defund Planned Parenthood, and cut funding for Massachusetts health care programs by hundreds of millions of dollars,” Healey said.

Baker’s comments were far more restrained. He told reporters he expected to discuss the legislation with members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation and likely other U.S. governors. He said it was too early to speculate on whether the proposed changes would leave more Massachusetts residents uninsured.

The governor, who supports abortion rights, has also pledged that his administration would use state funds to offset what could be a $2 million cut in federal funds for five Planned Parenthood clinics in Massachusetts.

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