By Lori Robertson
Democrats and Republicans are accusing one another of “lying” about what a House Republican budget resolution means for Medicaid, and both sides have made misleading or speculative comments. There’s little doubt the health care program would face cuts under the plan — and it would have to if Medicare cuts are off limits.
Democrats have seized on the resolution’s call for the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion in spending over 10 years. The committee’s options for those reductions are almost entirely in spending for Medicaid, a federal-state program that provides health care for low-income people, and Medicare, the federal program that covers seniors.
Republicans have said the legislation doesn’t pinpoint any specific changes to Medicaid, which is correct but sidesteps the reality that the bulk of the spending cuts would likely be to that program. Democrats, meanwhile, have speculated that hospitals and nursing homes will close, impacts that aren’t known without details of how federal spending will be trimmed and how states will react.
