Who does Medicaid cover? How Congress' proposed budget cuts could be felt
A budget resolution adopted Tuesday by House Republicans could jeopardize the health insurance coverage of millions of low-income and disabled people who rely on Medicaid if lawmakers follow through with their proposed spending cuts, experts warn.
A budget resolution adopted Tuesday by House Republicans could jeopardize the health insurance coverage of millions of low-income and disabled people who rely on Medicaid if lawmakers follow through with their proposed spending cuts, experts warn.
The budget plan instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to identify at least $880 billion in mandatory spending cuts over the next 10 years. The savings are expected to be used to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
While the resolution doesn’t specifically mention Medicaid, experts say it would be unfeasible for Republicans to hit that target without significant cuts to the health program, since it’s one of the largest sources of federal spending, costing more than $600 billion per year, according to government data.
“The way the math would work is that those cuts would largely need to come out of Medicaid,” said Robin Rudowitz, director of the program on Medicaid and the uninsured at KFF, a nonprofit group that focuses on health policy. “Medicare is off the table, and there just aren’t any other sources of funding for the Energy Commerce to look at.” (During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to preserve Medicare.)
The possible cuts are expected to extend beyond those who benefited from the 2014 Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, potentially affecting nearly all of the people in the program.
Rating: 5