Trump’s budget means deep cuts for health care safety net
WASHINGTON — Candidate Donald Trump promised better and more affordable health care, but as president his first full budget calls for deep cuts to popular insurance programs. And it omits any proposal for negotiating prescription drug prices, a frequent Trump talking point.
While not addressing Medicare’s long term financial problems, the budget targets the much smaller Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. And Trump’s Medicaid cuts appear even bigger than those in the health care bill recently passed by House Republicans, above what would be needed to fulfil the GOP vow to repeal “Obamacare.”
Both safety net programs are federal-state collaborations, and such cuts would leave states with hard choices: spend more of their own money; restrict enrolment; cut benefits, or reduce payments to hospitals and doctors.
“If states get fewer dollars from the federal government, there are only so many options, because states have to balance the budget every year,” said Elizabeth Carpenter, a health policy expert with the consulting firm Avalare Health.