They just cut 800b from Medicaid. Any idea what effect that has on Medicare?
Trump’s budget proposal to slash $800B from Medicaid; AHCA’s potential impact on Medicare
The budget proposal will be Trump’s first comprehensive budget plan; the administration released a streamlined version in March that only accounted for part of federal spending. That included major cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services that would significantly impact medical research and other healthcare programs. Trump’s March proposal was widely panned by healthcare industry groups.
The AHCA faces an uphill battle to pass in its current form*and is opposed by every major healthcare industry group, particularly because of its far-reaching cuts to Medicaid. The bill passed the House of Representatives by a narrow 217-213 margin before the Congressional Budget Office could score it, but CBO estimates on previous versions of the bill suggest that 24 million could lose insurance coverage by 2026.
The impact on Medicare
While much of the talk surrounding the AHCA and Trump’s financial proposals has centered on cuts and changes to Medicaid, the bill’s provisions could also be felt in Medicare, according to an analysis from the Commonwealth Fund penned by Cindy Mann, a healthcare attorney at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, and Allison Orris, counsel at Manatt Health. The bill doesn’t include specific changes to that program*but would profoundly impact people who are dual eligible, receiving benefits from both Medicare and Medicaid.
“The AHCA may on paper leave Medicare alone, but millions of Medicare beneficiaries and their families—and indeed the Medicare program itself—would feel its impact,” according to the Commonwealth Fund.
About 11 million Medicare beneficiaries are also eligible for Medicaid assistance, according to the report. Almost three-quarters (72%) of these dual-eligible people are at high risk under the per capita caps on Medicaid spending that the AHCA puts forward.
That program would put pressure on state budgets, and while they could use some of the extra funds for the elderly toward Medicaid coverage for other populations, like women and children, that’s not a sustainable response, as the American population is aging.
This would likely put constraints on care for some of the poorest and sickest Americans, according to the report. Medicare and Medicaid are very closely connected, so constraints on Medicaid will be felt and borne in Medicare instead.
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/aca...rom-medicaid-ahca-s-potential-impact-medicare
Frankly, I'm not sure what it is that you're arguing? Why do you think republicans propose, talk about, and pass this kind of legislation? It's because they, the republicans, want to drastically cut all funding for everyone but themselves, women and children be damned.