leprosy, i think the science is pretty well dictated on that regard as well. one of the most beneficial components of the affordable care act was the expansion of the medicaid program that resulted in 11 million people nationwide and over half a million in new jersey gaining coverage, many for the first time. it s one of the biggest programs on the republican chopping block. with proposals to not only repeal the affordable care medicaid expansion, but going further and gutting billions in federal funding to the states. there is no doubt that this would result in catastrophic loss of coverage for tens of millions of low-income families and lead to tens of billions in losses to safety net and other health care providers. do you recognize medicaid to be a valuable program and consider the coverage it provides 74 million americans to be comprehensive? medicaid is a vital program for health care for many individuals in this country, but one that has significant challenges. there is 1 out
physicians who should be seeing medicaid patients who are not taking any medicaid patients. there is a reason for that. if we are honest with ourselves we would be asking the question, why? if that s the case that one in three don t treat medicaid, you have to ask yourself, is because medicaid reimbursements are so low? and since provider reimbursements are set at a state level, won t cutting federal funding and hitting states with higher costs only lead to lower provider rates? and how many doctors would actually treat former medicaid beneficiaries when they no longer have any coverage or ability to pay? so even if there is only 1 of 3, there are still 2 of 3 that are providing the services, imagine if you don t have coverage, which goes to my next question. you have advocated to in essence block grant medicaid. the essence of medicaid is entitlement, which of the law means if i meet these criteria my have the right to have that