Last week, the New Hampshire Senate voted 17-7 in favor of SB 313, a bill to reauthorize New Hampshire’s Medicaid expansion program. Medicaid expansion provides health insurance to more than 50,000 Granite Staters, while more than 20,000 have accessed Substance Use Disorder treatment services under the program.
“While we still have concerns about the toughest hourly work requirement in the country, we laid out one primary goal at the outset of this process: to ensure nobody who has coverage loses it under reauthorization of this immensely important program,” said New Hampshire Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Donna Soucy. “We’ve been promised by Republican leadership that this reauthorization fulfills that promise. I hope the New Hampshire House continues to work to address our remaining concerns about providing better pathways to work to put opportunity over exemptions.”
Seven Senators, all Republicans, voted against this bipartisan proposal, including Senator Bob Guida, Senator Harold French, Senator Gary Daniels, Senator Kevin Avard, Senator Sharon, Senator Regina Birdsell & Senator Andy Sanborn.
“We appreciate the bipartisan work that has been done by our Senate colleagues. The Senate brought forward legislation that is a work in progress for the House to now consider,” said Representative Stephen Shurtleff (D-Penacook), NH House Democratic Leader.
Shurtleff continued, “House Democrats remain hopeful that, with careful consideration and hard work, the House and Senate will craft a bipartisan program that will continue to provide for the healthcare needs of our citizens, particularly for our vulnerable populations, and that will continue to ensure the over 50 thousand current participants in the NH Health Protection Program.”
“SB 313 as passed by the Senate has a higher number of hours for a work requirement than anywhere else in the country. That will necessitate a waiver from the federal government. So far, that approval has not been granted to any other state, and that concerns me,” stated Representative Cindy Rosenwald, (D-Nashua), Deputy Democratic Leader. “However, we look forward to receiving the bill in the House and reviewing it.”
The New Hampshire Labor News is a group of NH Workers who believe that we need to protect ourselves against the attacks on workers. We are proud union members who are working to preserve the middle class. The NHLN talks mostly about news and politics from NH. We also talk about national issues that effect working men and women here in the Granite State.
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