House GOP plans to trim $880B from Medicaid for budget plan

Representatives on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Sunday released a plan to save $880 billion over the next decade. The savings are part of a broad effort by Congressional Republicans to cut at least $1.5 trillion from the federal budget to cover President Donald Trump’s priorities. The White House’s goals include an extension of his 2017 tax cuts that are due to expire at the end of the year. Trump's plan would exempt tips, overtime, and Social Security from taxes, according to the White House.

Legislators in 11 House committees have been compiling sections of the budget package per an earlier-approved framework. In addition to changes to Medicaid, the Energy and Commerce Committee’s proposal would also roll back some green energy programs introduced under the Biden administration. Lawmakers are set to meet Tuesday to continue ironing out the details of the package.

How could the plan affect Medicaid?

• The bill would slash Medicaid spending by introducing new restrictions on beneficiaries and instituting more frequent eligibility checks.

• It would also add a requirement that recipients prove they are working, volunteering, or enrolled in an educational program for at least 80 hours a month.

• Pregnant women, parents and caregivers, tribal members, individuals considered medically frail, people over age 64, and those who are already in compliance with another work requirement for other assistance would be exempt from the requirement.

• The bill would also prohibit Medicaid funding from being used for transgender interventions for minors and for reimbursing providers like Planned Parenthood that perform abortions.

The changes are intended to strengthen Medicaid for children, mothers, people with disabilities, and the elderly, Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said Sunday in a Wall Street Journal opinion article. More than 71 million people were enrolled in Medicaid last December.

What have opponents said? Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., on Sunday said the bill would result in millions of Americans losing access to healthcare. Pallone and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., last week released a report from the Congressional Budget Office that analyzed several potential proposals to trim Medicaid. The report found that in response to federal budget cuts states would likely spend more themselves on Medicaid, reduce payments to healthcare providers, limit the scope of optional benefits, and reduce enrollment in Medicaid. It also estimated that millions of people would no longer be enrolled in the program by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, a group of Republican lawmakers last month said they would not support a bill that includes any cuts to the program. 

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno's report about differing budget blueprints in the House and Senate.