Washington may find itself "between a rock and a hard place" regarding Medicare and Medicaid cuts.
See recent headlines - "Can't meet budget target without cutting Medicare, Medicaid" faces off against, "Republicans...represent large shares of Medicaid beneficiaries."
Washington Post has a new headline that features a CBO letter to Congress about such healthcare cuts.
WaPo here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/05/gop-budget-medicaid-cuts/
CBO Position (Letter) here:
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-03/61235-Boyle-Pallone.pdf
While the CBO letterat the link above is dry and nonpartisan, here are a few sentences I pulled from the new WaPo article:
- Republicans in Congress cannot reach their goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on taxes and immigration unless they cut Medicaid or Medicare benefits, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper reported Wednesday.....
- But the House GOP’s budget, which passed last week in a hairline vote, asks the committee responsible for federal health-care spending to find at least $880 billion in savings over 10 years. And the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that reducing costs that much won’t be possible without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
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Here's NBC on how cuts could effect some Republican districts:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-republicans-medicaid-snap-budget-test-rcna192954
Here's a Kaiser article on Medicaid politics:
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/medicaid-words-language-debate-public-opinion-house-budget/
Here's "The Hill" - "Trump's Voters Don't Want Medicaid Cuts"
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5182863-medicaid-funding-poll-republicans/
Healthcare Dive:
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An article on MedPAC support for tying physician fees to economic indices (inflation).