House Republicans passed a federal budget bill that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says could result in nearly 12 million people losing health care coverage.
The sprawling spending plan shifts resources from the social safety net to finance trillions of dollars in new spending on tax cuts, immigration and customs enforcement, and national defense. However, while the tax cuts will go into effect this year, many of the hardest hits to the social safety net will be delayed until after the midterm elections next year.
Medicare was not explicitly cut in the legislation, but the health insurance program for the elderly is vulnerable to nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts between 2026 and 2034. That's because the deep spending cuts don’t offset the tax cuts and new spending, and the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 demands automatic cuts, called sequestration.
KFF Health News Chief Washington Correspondent Julie Rovner joined Petrie Dish host Bonnie Petrie to sort through who and what will be hit hardest by these cuts, which will ultimately impact everyone. "This is a problem for the entire health infrastructure," Rovner said.
