The House last week passed on a party line vote a Republican budget resolution that recommends $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over the next decade. The House budget plan directs the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Committee that has jurisdiction over Medicaid and Medicare, to reduce spending by at least $880 billion over the next ten years. While the House bill does not specifically identify Medicaid spending cuts, the overall spending cuts are so large that the federal Medicaid program spending is likely to be impacted. The House Budget Committee earlier this year released an options document that, in fact, includes seven Medicaid proposals that cumulatively would cut federal spending by $2.3 trillion over ten years, including capping Medicaid funding on a per capita basis, reducing the federal matching rate which provides revenue to states, equalizing the federal matching for the ACA expansion population from current 90% to state’s base FMAP rate, and restricting state use of provider taxes to finance state Medicaid costs.
House approval of the budget plan is a critical first step for Congress to pass the budget. Next steps include Committee meetings to draft details of the House plan which will ultimately be sent to the Senate for its action.