White House budget reduces Medicaid spending

Trump's 2018 budget directly contradicts his campaign promise not to cut Medicaid, the government health insurance program for poor people.

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney denied this characterization when introducing the budget May 23.

"There are no Medicaid cuts in the terms of what ordinary human beings would refer to as a cut," he said. "We are not spending less money one year than we spent before."

Yes, the White House's proposed Medicaid appropriations increase year to year. But they are increasing less than they would under current funding levels.

If Congress adopts the White House's proposal, the government would spend an estimated $4.7 trillion on Medicaid over the next 10 years, compared with $5.3 trillion under current funding levels, according to the budget document.

The budget calls for reforming Medicaid by allowing states to choose whether they get their funds either per capita or in the form of a block grant. The White House Office of Management and Budget estimates this would save $610 billion dollars.

The budget also assumes that the House's replacement for the Affordable Care Act, which makes significant changes to Medicaid, passes.

A May 24 report out of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House bill, the American Health Care Act, would reduce Medicaid-related spending by $834 billion over 10 years. According to CBO estimates, if the bill becomes law in its current form, 14 million fewer people would enroll in Medicaid over the next decade.

There are are numerous obstacles standing in the way of Trump's budget proposal or the American Health Care Act in its current form becoming law. It's clear Trump has backed away from his pledge to preserve Medicaid funding, but until he signs the cuts into law, this promise stays at Stalled.