CFE Leads Coalition Calling for Audit of Gavin Newsom's Medicaid Ambulance Scheme
The Center for a Free Economy (CFE) is leading a coalition of more than 40 organizations opposing California's Medicaid ambulance reimbursement practices. The coalition is urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reject proposed changes sought by Governor Gavin Newsom's administration that would favor government-owned providers at the expense of private companies and federal taxpayers.
The letter to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz includes signatures from Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Nina Owcharenko, Committee to Unleash Prosperity co-founder Stephen Moore, and Paragon Health Institute President Brian Blase, among others.
The coalition calls on CMS to reject two proposed California State Plan Amendments that would preserve and expand supplemental payments to government ambulance providers. Under the existing arrangement, government agencies can receive Medicaid reimbursements several times higher than private ambulance companies receive for the same services, even when private companies perform the transportation.
“Medicaid exists to finance healthcare services for vulnerable Americans, not to facilitate increasingly sophisticated financing arrangements designed to maximize federal matching funds,” said Ryan Ellis, President of the Center for a Free Economy. “CMS has correctly identified the need for reform. CMS should ensure that these pending SPAs do not take effect.”
The letter also urges CMS to audit California's ambulance reimbursement arrangements and prevent the state from using Medicaid financing mechanisms to shift additional spending onto federal taxpayers.
The full letter follows:
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