Posted on 04/14/2025 2:10:08 AM PDT by RandFan
The House cleared a hurdle Thursday in adopting a budget resolution needed for filibuster-proof legislation on President Donald Trump’s policy priorities. But now, another obstacle stands in the way: how to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts without cutting Medicaid benefits, as Trump and House leadership have promised.
The budget resolution directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in savings — a feat that would prove extremely difficult without making deep cuts to Medicaid, the massive health program covering 72 million Americans, including low-income adults, children and people with disabilities.
Some Republicans say they won’t support legislation that would cut the program.
“If they’re going to cut qualified, legal people, whether they’re disabled, whether they’re senior citizens, whether they’re working poor … we’re not supporting that. Period,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., who along with a dozen other Republicans met with Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this week to emphasize their objections to Medicaid benefit cuts.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/doge-claims-found-4-7-132620804.html DOGE claims it found $4.7 trillion in Treasury payments that are ‘untraceable’
so finding 850 billion without cuts should not be hard
Way back when Medicare/Medicaid were being enacted there were grey faced men in some of the headlines, the sort of men people took seriously, saying “This will bankrupt our country, It is inevitable.” I was in grade school and didn’t understand a lot but I wondered why these guys were saying this and the programs went ahead anyway. Well here we are…
End Medicaid, end Medicare and end Social Security and all welfare programs.... Phase them out in a reasonable matter. Individuals should be responsible for themselves not the government.
Yes I get SS and Medicare and that’s why I said phase them out. They were bad ideas.
The answer is it’s a misleading article that shouldn’t even be published here.
Some Rs are weak in the knee.
I dont care if they cut it in half and neither will the VAST majority of R voters
Pass Medicaid down to the states while eliminating the cap on the SALT deduction. The states will likely have to raise their own taxes to take on full Medicaid funding, and full SALT will make that easier. Also, eliminate the cap on deductions for private donations, so that private charities can take on more of the responsibility as well, if the states cannot.
Otherwise, we’re screwed.
True. Reducing coverage from 138 percent of poverty level income back to 100 percent would help a great deal. Unfortunately, most states, Dem and GOP, agreed to the arrangement, because the Feds would fund 90% of the new costs, so this will be tough.
A lot of poor seniors are on Medicaid too. It is Medi/Medi and one of the best insurances you can have.
I like some of your ideas. Is it primarily an ER problem? Illegals getting “free” care?
Another possibility is to require drugs to be sold to state Medicaid programs at lowest industrially advanced country pricing.
95% of what Medicaid does buy, the packaging, the advertising, the reporting to Medicaid is more expensive than the drug inside.
“fund 90% of the new costs”
Perhaps:
89%, 2026
88%, 2027
87%, 2028
86%, 2029
85%, 2030-2035
Get the illegals and deadbeats off it and prosecute fraud.
The problem is it’s fake news. Trump & his cabinet have said repeatedly that Medicaid will not be cut except for fraud, abuse and able bodied young people who should never have been on the program. Just another article meant to create a feeding frenzy on Trump’s policies. The tactic of creating a strawman to attack is not new but it’s repellant.
The are over 12.5 million “dual eligible” Medicare/Medicaid enrollees, so his statement holds up.
https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/a-profile-of-medicare-medicaid-enrollees-dual-eligibles/
They need to return to their country of origin. US taxpayers are not able to support medical care for the entire world nor do they want to.
All-state Medicaid drug buying?
Obligate new federally subsidized medical students to provide about 2,000 hours of Medicaid care in their first 10 years of practice?
Will those savings be enough? There is a lot of waste, fraud and abuse to cut. I wonder what Musk will find.
“...the reporting to Medicaid is more expensive than the drug inside”
Then it’s a hospital cost problem.
The US owns VA hospitals.
The doctor will see you at 2AM. He speaks Hindi only.
“How will I pay for college?”
Join the military and do something good for your country. Veterans benefits for education are very good.
If it were on me, I would dismantle Medicaid altogether.
Medicaid is deceptionally confused with Medicare (the old people care, mostly paid by fees of the recipients).
Medicaid is free care for the “poor”. Since it is free, it is abused by definition. People abuse it just because, why not use free care?
Plus, there is massive potential for real fraud, lots of people are getting rich of it!
And all kind of noncitizens are getting paid by Medicaid.
(E.g. rich Silicon Valley engineers are bringing in their parents from China and India, and getting them free Medicaid, free healthcare they did not paid a penny into!)
But the media, and Dems, are trying to present it as the evil Republicans, cutting Granma care even if they cut a penny out of it!
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