Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Despite Budget Director's Artful Evasiveness, Medicaid Is Most Definitely On The Chopping Block
The Associated Press Fact Check: Medicaid A Target For Cuts Despite Assurance
Medicaid is clearly in line for cuts under President Donald Trump's budget despite assurances to the contrary from his budget chief. Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, while introducing the budget Tuesday: "There are no Medicaid cuts in the terms of what ordinary human beings would refer to as a cut. We are not spending less money one year than we spent before." (5/25)
The Associated Press: Trump Budget Faces Dem Opposition, GOP Doubts About Math
Mulvaney gave an unapologetic defense of Trump proposals to slash programs related to the environment, education, health care for the poor and foreign aid. The former tea party congressman told the Budget Committee that he went line by line through the federal budget and asked, “Can we justify this to the folks who are actually paying for it?” Democrats charged that Trump’s cuts would rip apart the social safety net. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told Mulvaney that the proposed cuts to food stamps, payments to the disabled, and other programs are “astonishing and frankly immoral.” (Taylor, 5/24)
The New York Times: In One Chart: Trump Plans To Cut Medicaid After Promising Not To
President Trump has long promised not to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. But in his budget released on Tuesday, he proposes making massive cuts to Medicaid. Mr. Trump is proposing to cut $610 billion from Medicaid benefits. This could come on top of more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid sought in the health care overhaul bill passed by the House on May 4. (Park, 5/24)
Providence Journal: Hospital Official: Cut To Medicaid ‘Almost Unfathomable’
President Trump’s proposal to slash more than $600 billion over 10 years from Medicaid would cut deep into the government health program for low-income people that insures nearly one-third of Rhode Island residents. Hospital officials and health care analysts said Tuesday it’s too soon to quantify the impact of the proposed cuts on Rhode Island. But the direction of the latest plan, they say, is painfully clear. ... The prospect of more uninsured patients worries hospital officials. Lifespan, the state’s largest health system, reports that its charity or so-called uncompensated care has fallen by more than half during the last five years. “Clearly, the sheer size of the proposed Medicaid cuts ... would be detrimental to health care here and throughout the nation and in addition a hardship for hospitals and other health care providers,″ David Levesque, a spokesman for Lifespan, said in an e-mail. (Arditi, 5/23)
In other budget news —
WBUR: Trump Wants Families On Food Stamps To Get Jobs. The Majority Already Work
When President Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, unveiled the administration's budget blueprint earlier this week, which calls for significant cuts to food stamps, he noted that the aim of the budget was to get people working... But the reality is, many people (44 percent) who rely on SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as food stamps is now known — have at least one person in the family working, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Godoy and Aubrey, 5/24)
WBUR: Advocates For Poor In Boston Warn Trump Budget Plan Would Be Detrimental
Advocates for the poor — in Boston and beyond — are lambasting the federal budget proposed by President Trump. The $4.1 trillion spending plan released Tuesday seeks to eliminate the deficit in a decade but proposes cutting programs ranging from Medicaid to food stamps to disability payments. (Brown, 5/24)
