House Republican leaders on Tuesday downplayed the possibility of cuts to Medicaid benefits as they seek a reconciliation bill with up to $2 trillion in savings.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) sought to reassure the public — and potential jittery members of their own caucus — that the Medicaid changes under discussion include work requirements and fraud reduction, not drastic cuts like lowering the federal match for Medicaid expansion states or instituting a per capita cap.
House Republicans are debating how deep they need to cut to pay for an extension of President Trump’s tax cuts and border enforcement funding, and how much political backlash they can endure.
One of the prime targets is Medicaid, the joint federal and state-funded program that provides health coverage to more than 72 million low-income Americans. Republicans see Medicaid as a program rife with fraud and abuse and have long sought to rein in its spending.
Work requirements would save about $100 billion over a decade. But hard-line conservatives are pushing for a bottom-line figure of at least $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, which could necessitate even more cuts.
The most controversial changes, like lowering the federal match for the Medicaid expansion population and instituting a per capita cap, would save $561 billion and up to $900 billion over a decade respectively, according to House GOP estimates.
Scalise on Tuesday didn’t rule out going further on Medicaid cuts, but he also suggested the primary focus was work requirements.
Posted by John3262005
9 Comments
Stoves, leopards…
Fuckit, apparently the voters want this
So like, glhf
They are clearly gutting defense spending and Medicare instead!
I’d prepare to cut Medicare but honestly this isn’t bad
Going to be a bad midterms for the GOP if they do medicaid cuts.
So…fuck all the people who get denied when applying for disability?
Getting approved can be difficult on its own. But now those deciding your eligibility hold your healthcare in their hands too?
They’re going to have a hard time getting to an agreement.
The GOP Dream-pairing has always been cutting taxes for the wealthy while cutting social programs for the poor. Running massive deficits through tax cuts makes it easier for them to bring down the axe by insisting on social services cuts to reign in the deficit they caused with their tax cuts.
Gotta make room to get rid of the $32m estate tax exemption