As America Is Distracted By Trump Child Abuse, GOP Moves To Gut Medicare And Medicaid

While the American people are rightly outraged by the Trump administration’s abuse of migrant children, House Republicans proposed a budget that would gut Medicare and Medicaid.

The 2019 budget that Republicans are working on in the House Budget Committee would pay for tax cuts with a gutting of Medicare and Medicaid.

According to The Center For Budget and Policy Priorities, “House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack’s new 2019 budget shows that the House majority’s fiscal priorities haven’t changed. The budget plan maintains the costly 2017 tax cuts, while making deep cuts in health care and basic assistance for struggling families, repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and severely cutting funding over time for investments that can boost the nation’s productivity and thereby foster economic growth. The committee’s materials show that the budget would make nearly $6 trillion in cuts over ten years to entitlements and non-defense discretionary programs, including $2.1 trillion in health care alone, including cuts to Medicaid, ACA premium tax credits, and Medicare. The budget incorporates the failed House ACA repeal bill, which, at the time the bill was considered, the Congressional Budget Office estimated would have taken away health coverage from 23 million Americans by 2026.”

The cuts are dire for Medicare and Medicaid.

Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, “The 2019 House GOP budget proposal, which would cut $537 billion from Medicare and $1.5 trillion from Medicaid and other health programs, demonstrates grossly misplaced priorities. At a time when 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day, the Republican leadership in Congress wants to slash programs that protect seniors’ health and well-being – including Medicare, which older citizens have paid into during their entire working lives, and Medicaid, which covers costs for more than 60% of skilled nursing care.”

Republicans are trying to strangle Medicare and kill Medicaid

A $1.5 trillion cut would be devastating for Medicaid. It would slice the program to the bone by making sure that only the poorest of the poor would receive minimal coverage. The Republican plan incentivizes throwing people off of Medicaid by passing the cost of the program on to the states. The Medicare cuts would result in reduced benefits for seniors and higher costs as the goal for Republicans remains the privatization of the program.

People should be moved to tears by what Trump and his Republican enablers are doing on the border, but behind closed doors, even as they face losing the House in November, Republicans are still trying to hurt seniors, children, the poor, and the disabled to pay for their tax cuts for the rich.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association