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Ryan budget cuts Medicaid by $810 billion
The House Republican budget released Tuesday would slash federal Medicaid spending by $810 billion over 10 years and give states more flexibility to run the program as they see fit.
The proposed cut is bigger than the $771 billion cut Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) proposed in 2011, but far less than the $1.8 trillion in savings achieved under similar "block-granting" legislation introduced this month by the conservative Republican Study Committee. While Ryan recommends transforming the open-ended federal funding commitment for the program into a block grant indexed for inflation and population growth, the RSC bill achieves greater savings by freezing spending at 2012 levels.
"Offering states more flexibility for their Medicaid beneficiaries will remove the stigma recipients face and allow them to take advantage of a range of options," says a summary of the budget proposal. "Several of the nation's governors have made innovative proposals to fix Medicaid. This budget pursues reforms in this direction."
As expected, the new Ryan budget offers a modified version of his controversial Medicare plan from last year. Whereas last year's plan moved all future seniors into a privatized system, where the government subsidized premium payments, the current plan keeps traditional Medicare as an option. It also has new protections for low-income seniors and restrictions that could keep the traditional plan from being stuck with only the sickest patients.
The new "premium support" proposal is based on a model developed by Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and long championed by Budget Committee member Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.).
Despite Wyden's support for a similar plan, Democrats are already pouncing on the new Medicare proposal. A protest is planned by seniors groups at a Tuesday morning speech by Ryan at the American Enterprise Institute.
— Erik Wasson contributed.
