Trump’s Medicaid ‘Cuts’ Actually Increase Federal Spending: New at Reason

Under Donald Trump’s budget, Medicaid spending would reach the highest level in U.S. history.

A. Barton Hinkle writes:

Last week, President Trump proposed massive spending increases for Medicaid.

Of course, most of the media didn’t report it that way. They reported that the president’s proposal “slashes spending.” That he wants to cut “at least $610 billion” from Medicaid. That “Trump’s Budget Cuts Deeply Into Medicaid.” And so on.

That might be vaguely true in the Washington sense. It’s not at all true in the real-world sense.

Here’s the difference.

If you look at the actual White House budget proposal, you’ll note that it includes tables for “baseline” spending and “proposed” spending. Baseline spending is spending that would occur if nothing changes—if Congress doesn’t order any new aircraft carriers, and America doesn’t start any new wars. If entitlement eligibility rules remain the same, and expected benefits for each recipient neither shrink nor grow. Things like that. Make some minor adjustments for inflation and population growth and, barring some unforeseen windfall or cataclysm, you can project how much a program will cost in future years.

View this article.