The prospect of deep Medicaid cuts has turn out to be a flashpoint in Congress, with leaders of each events accusing their counterparts of mendacity.
Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries mentioned Feb. 27 {that a} Republican funds measure would “set in movement the most important minimize to Medicaid in American historical past,” and that Republicans are hiding the results.
“The Republicans are mendacity to the American folks about Medicaid,” Jeffries mentioned. “I can’t say it another manner. Republicans are mendacity. Show me mistaken.”
Republicans mentioned Democrats have been distorting the Republican funds. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) mentioned, “The phrase ‘Medicaid’ just isn’t even on this invoice.” Home Speaker Mike Johnson mentioned on CNN that Republicans don’t need to minimize Medicaid, “and the Democrats have been mendacity about it.”
Republicans are in search of huge funds financial savings to satisfy their purpose of totally extending President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. This can be a separate course of from Congress’ have to cross a unbroken decision to maintain the federal government working by March 14 or face a federal authorities shutdown.
Right here’s what we all know thus far about potential Medicaid cuts.
The Home GOP Price range Plan Seeks $880 Billion in Cuts
Medicaid serves about 1 in 5 People. The well being care program for low-income folks is paid for by the federal authorities and partly by states. Louisiana, house to Johnson and Scalise, has one of many highest state proportions of Medicaid enrollees.
The Home Republican funds plan adopted Feb. 25 opens the door to slashing Medicaid, despite the fact that it doesn’t identify this system. The plan directs the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee to seek out methods to chop the deficit by not less than $880 billion over the following decade.
The committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid, Medicare, and the Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program, along with a lot smaller applications. CHIP affords low-cost well being protection to youngsters in households that earn an excessive amount of cash to qualify for Medicaid.
Republicans dominated out cuts to Medicare, the medical insurance program for seniors that leaders minimize at their political peril. Medicare is about 15% of the federal funds, and Medicaid is about 8.6%.
When Medicare is put aside, Medicaid accounts for 93% of the funding underneath the committee’s jurisdiction, the nonpartisan Congressional Price range Workplace present in a March 5 evaluation. Meaning it’s unattainable for the committee to seek out sufficient cuts that don’t have an effect on Medicaid.
“It’s a fantasy to suggest that federal Medicaid help received’t be minimize very deeply,” mentioned Allison Orris, an skilled on Medicaid coverage on the Heart on Price range and Coverage Priorities, a left-leaning assume tank.
After Medicaid, the next-largest program underneath the committee’s jurisdiction is CHIP. Lawmakers don’t seem like planning to wipe out CHIP, however even when they did, they might be solely a “fraction of the way in which there,” mentioned Joan Alker, an skilled on Medicaid and CHIP at Georgetown College.
If Medicare cuts are off the desk, the one option to obtain $880 billion in financial savings is thru massive Medicaid cuts, mentioned Larry Levitt, govt vp for well being coverage at KFF, the well being coverage analysis, polling, and information group that features KFF Well being Information.
Andy Schneider, a professor at Georgetown College who served within the Obama administration as a senior adviser on the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies, mentioned even when the committee eradicated all these “different” applications totally it may obtain solely $381 billion in financial savings — about 43% of the goal.
“In brief, in the event that they don’t need to minimize Medicaid [or CHIP], and so they don’t need to minimize Medicare, the purpose of chopping $880 billion is unattainable,” Schneider mentioned.
The $880 billion minimize just isn’t a carried out deal. Home Republicans have been capable of cross their funds bundle, however Senate Republicans are taking a distinct strategy, with out proposing such important cuts.
Any finalized funds blueprint would want Senate Republicans’ buy-in. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is amongst Republicans who’ve spoken in opposition to potential cuts; he advised HuffPost, “I’d not do extreme cuts to Medicaid.”
The numbers are beginning factors that will result in negotiation amongst not less than Republicans, mentioned Joseph Antos, a well being care skilled on the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “We’re a great distance from closing laws, so it’s not potential to foretell how a lot any program might be minimize,” he mentioned.
“If the invoice additionally consists of extending the [Trump 2017] tax cuts, we’re in all probability months away from seeing actual language,” Antos mentioned.
As soon as the Home and Senate have reached an settlement on language and the decision passes each chambers, the committees will work on detailed cuts. To enact such cuts, each chambers would want to approve a separate invoice and obtain Trump’s signature.
Why Eliminating Fraud Doesn’t Resolve the Downside
Republican leaders have deflected issues about Medicaid cuts by speaking a couple of completely different goal: Medicaid fraud.
“I’m not going to the touch Social Safety, Medicare, Medicaid. Now, we’re going to get fraud out of there,” Trump advised Fox Information’ Maria Bartiromo on March 9, in line with his marketing campaign rhetoric that he would defend these applications.
On the identical time, Trump on his Fact Social platform praised the Home decision that may make cuts extremely doubtless: “The Home Decision implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not simply components of it!”
Would eliminating fraud resolve the Medicaid downside? No.
On CNN, Johnson mentioned chopping fraud, waste, and abuse would lead to “a part of the financial savings to perform this mission.” He mentioned the federal government loses $50 billion a yr in Medicaid funds “simply in fraud alone.”
Johnson conflated “fraud” with “improper funds.” The Authorities Accountability Workplace, the nonpartisan investigative arm that examines using public funds, discovered about $50 billion in improper funds in Medicaid and the identical quantity in Medicare in fiscal 2023.
These improper funds have been made in an incorrect quantity (overpayment or underpayment), mustn’t have been made in any respect, or had lacking or inadequate documentation. However that doesn’t imply that there was $50 billion in Medicaid fraud, which might contain acquiring one thing via willful misrepresentation.
The system used to establish improper funds just isn’t designed to measure fraud, so we don’t know what share of improper funds have been losses resulting from fraud, mentioned Schneider, the previous Obama administration well being adviser.
Plus, it’s a drop within the general bucket of the potential $880 billion in cuts.
