During past crises such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the swine flu outbreak, both Republican and Democrat presidents have loosened Medicaid rules to help states meet urgent needs. But the Los Angeles Times reports the Trump administration is holding states back from using Medicaid to help them fight the growing coronavirus pandemic. “If they wanted to do it, they could do it,” Cindy Mann, who ran the Medicaid program in the Obama administration, reportedly said. The administration could reportedly relax rules that determine who’s eligible for coverage as well as what kind of medical services can be covered. Shortly after Katrina in 2005, President George W. Bush allowed states to grant waivers that then allowed them to rapidly enroll people into Medicaid. In 2009, during the swine flu outbreak, President Obama took similar action. Sara Rosenbaum, a Medicaid expert at George Washington University, said the Trump administration’s “ideology is clouding their response to a crisis.”
