Republican Budget Plan Would Cut Medicaid by $1.7 Trillion

Under the Republican's budget plan in the U.S. House of Representatives, federal Medicaid spending would be cut by $1.7 trillion between 2013 and 2022, according to a report by the nonpartisan Urban Institute for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (pdf).

Under current law, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, federal spending on Medicaid is roughly $4.6 trillion between 2013 and 2022. Republicans would cut $1.7 trillion, or 38 percent of funding, through the repeal of the PPACA and cuts associated with block grants.


Payments to hospitals would take a severe hit. Under the block grant reductions, hospital Medicaid payments would drop by $363.8 billion over 10 years, assuming states made cuts across the board. Hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic, East North Central and Pacific regions would be affected the most.

The authors of the report also said the House budget plan would drastically reduce Medicaid enrollment, and given the low incomes of Medicaid beneficiaries, most would likely become uninsured.

"The proposed changes and reductions in federal financing for Medicaid under the House budget plan would almost certainly worsen the problem of the uninsured and strain the nation's safety net," according to the report. "Medicaid's ability to continue these many roles in the healthcare system would be significantly compromised under this proposal, with no obvious alternative to take its place."

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