The House approved a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint Aug. 24 that could enable significant changes to Medicare and Medicaid, according to The Washington Post.
The Democratic-held House voted to pass the budget resolution, 220-212, along party lines. The budget plan outlines spending goals that the committees must now detail in legislation. Democratic leaders said they hope to adopt the spending budget next month.
Democrats said the package would include a new dental, vision and hearing benefit to the Medicare program and create a federal program to provide healthcare coverage in the states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.
The vote by the House also set a Sept. 27 deadline to vote on the Senate-passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill. One of the funding sources for the bill will be continuing and extending an automatic 2 percent annual Medicare payment cut. The 2 percent payment cuts currently are slated to run from fiscal year 2022 to 2030. The bill would restart the payment cuts next year and extend them so they run until fiscal 2031.