Medicaid Cuts In Trump’s Budget Would Be ‘Just Awful,’ Advocates Say

The Associated Press:
Poor And Disabled Big Losers In Trump Budget; Military Wins

The poor and the disabled are big losers in President Donald Trump’s $4.1 trillion budget proposal while the Pentagon is a big winner. Trump’s plan for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 makes deep cuts in safety net programs, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The proposal also includes big cuts in Social Security’s disability program. (Ohlemacher, 5/24)

USA Today:
Health Care Advocates Say The Trump Budget Plan Would Gut Medicaid

Advocates for low income people struggled to find the words to describe the likely effect of the proposed $800 billion in cuts proposed to Medicaid in the Trump administration’s budget released Tuesday. Depending who you ask, it will be devastating or “just awful” to the lowest income Americans, especially children and those with chronic health conditions, mental illness or substance use disorder. (O’Donnell, Saker and Robinson, 5/23)

The Washington Post:
Trump Budget Would Cut Health Benefits For Many Lower-Income Kids, Experts Fear

Lower-income children would have their federal health benefits cut sharply under President Trump’s proposed budget, which analysts say could reverse gains that have pushed uninsured rates for this vulnerable population below 5 percent. The shift stems from a combination of factors, including a plan to reduce Medicaid by $1.4 trillion over the next decade and a roughly 20 percent decrease in funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), along with proposed changes to eligibility requirements and the way federal matching funds are calculated. (Eilperin, 5/23)

Politico:
Trump Undermines Senate GOP’s Medicaid Backers

A group of Republican senators is fighting desperately to preserve health coverage for millions of low-income constituents who have benefited from Obamacare. And the president of their own party seriously undercut their negotiating position with his budget Tuesday. By proposing hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts in combination with the House-passed health care bill’s more than $800 billion in Medicaid spending reductions, President Donald Trump is effectively throwing in with fiscal conservatives looking to constrain the program’s growth and wind down its coverage as quickly as possible. And that could be perilous for more than a dozen GOP senators who have been meeting for months over how to preserve the law’s benefits. (Everett and Cancryn, 5/23)

PBS NewsHour:
Why Schools Are Worried About Medicaid Cuts Hurting Special Education

Special education, which is hugely reliant on Medicaid, is one factor that didn’t get much attention in the debate over the Republican health care bill. If the bill becomes law and triggers billions of dollars of cuts to Medicaid, how would it affect the millions of public school kids who receive special ed services? William Brangham talks to Sasha Pudelski of the American Association of School Administrators. (5/22)