Are There Cuts to Social Security & Medicare in Trump’s Budget or Not?
When Democrats proposed cuts in the growth of future Medicare spending in the era of Obamacare, they were criticized by the GOP for hurting the program and seniors. The rhetoric is now reversed. Who’s right? On Medicare, clearly reducing the growth in spending is in order, as the program reaches insolvency in six years. As the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) states, “A ‘cut’ or ‘savings’ — the word choice depends on one’s political party — of $600 billion over 10 years would be a 6% decrease from projected spending.” However, no broad based reduction in benefits or premium increases are in the President’s budget. The same is true of Social Security. No benefit changes or reductions. On Medicaid, the joint federal/state program for the poor, there are cuts. CRFB notes Trump’s budget includes “significant Medicaid savings by requiring work and community engagement activities, reintroducing asset limits, and otherwise tightening eligibility requirements for able-bodied adults – resulting in about $130 billion of savings.” Read Lori Robertson’s entire analysis from Factcheck.org here.
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