Why Trump’s proposed budget is a disaster for health care
By Joshua Levin
President Trump released his $4.8 trillion budget proposal for the coming year that, if passed, would increase health care costs, reduce access to essential services and increase income, racial, and ethnic disparities.
This budget would remove health coverage from more than 20 million Americans.
The 10-year projection for President Trump’s budget hopes to decrease Medicare funding by $480 billion and social security by $30 billion. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) would lose $844 billion, to relocate to Trump’s own ACA replacement.
Other notable policy revisions targeting health care, access to services, and racial and ethnic disparities include:
- Elimination of the ACA’s enhanced federal matching fund for Medicaid Expansion.
- Implementation of work requirements for people on Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance.
- Cuts to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps) totaling $200 billion.
- Elimination of multiple low-income housing programs.
Such changes would cripple states’ resources and limit their ability to provide coverage to more than 13 million people.
These changes are also detrimental to the efficacy of the social programs they’re targeting. Forcing work requirements on people using Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance has been proven to negatively impact both the amount of people eligible for coverage and the amount of coverage they can receive.
Implementation of the new budget is also expected to increase in barriers to care that are essential for meeting the basic needs of families in impoverished communities. Funding toward public housing would see a 43% decrease from last year and 160,000 housing vouchers would be eliminated. The National Housing Trust Fund, the HOME Investment Partnerships, the Community Development Block Grant and the Choice Neighborhoods programs would all be eliminated as well.
The proposed budget, with such significant cuts and revisions to the federal safety net, is not expected to pass in Congress without a major overhaul. However, the budget is a clear indication of the administration’s destructive vision that could become a reality if voters don’t realize what is at stake.