LOS ANGELES.–House Republicans passed by one vote [215-214] a $7 trillion federal budget that includes a renewed of Trump 2017 tax cuts, projected to add $3.8 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. Today’s House bill expects to cut $70 billion to Medicaid monthly, the most important issue taken up by the U.S. Senate. Voters needs to keep in mind that the cost currently to Medicaid for illegal aliens is only about $3 billion, a fraction of the cuts planned for Medicaid that would decimate the nursing home and hospital industries, especially in rural areas around the country. Republican senators need to consider the damage done to the U.S. health care industry or 17.6% of the nation’s Gross domestic product or $4.9 trillion dollars. Cutting out $840 billion a year from the Medicaid budget would cause catastrophic damage to the U.S. health care industry, wholly dependent for shareholder value on Medicaid funding. So, Trump’s plan would be a disaster.
Once the House bill gets to the U.S. Senate, cooler heads need to prevail to stop what amounts to a poison pill to the entire health care industry. Between Medicare at $839 billion and Medicaid at $914 billion, the government’s share in health care funding totals $1753 trillion, a staggering sum but necessary to fund the health care industry. Stripping away $70 billion a month or $840 billion a year from Medicaid would have irreversible damage to the U.S. economy, sending Wall Street and the economy into a nosedive. House Republicans aren’t thinking of the big picture of how government spending benefits the overall economy, something British economist John Maynard Keynes knew 100 years ago. Whether House Republicans admit it or not, the economy would have sunk into a great depression without former President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief government spending.
Government spending out of the tax base is the best bang-for-the-buck to keep jobs flowing and the unemployment low. Whatever the private sector does for the U.S. economy, government spending on the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure bill kept unemployment at record lows, preventing the economy from lapsing into recession. Slashing $840 billion from Medicaid funding would sink the health care industry, one of the enduring bright spots in the economy over the last 10 years. Health care is a reliable source of profit for publicly traded companies, keeping jobs flowing and unemployment low. Democrats emphasize the 78,532,341 alien Medicaid enrollees in the U.S., only 3.5 million are estimated as illegal aliens or 4.4%. Illegal aliens are a small part of the Medicaid enrollees.
Saying the new Republican budget “gets Americans back to winning,” 53-year-old House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) doesn’t see how the Medicaid cuts damage the overall economy. “What we’re going to do here this morning is truly historic, and it will make all the difference in the daily lives of hard working Americans,” Johnson said on the House floor before the vote. Does Johnson have a clue what cutting $840 billion from Medicaid would do the nation’s health care industry. It would force the bankruptcy and shut down of Medicaid health facilities around the country, especially nursing homes that house the nation’s elderly infirmed, requiring daily nursing care. What is Johnson talking about making a difference to hard working Americans. Their loved ones currently received nursing care around the country thanks in part to Medicaid or health care for the poor.
Democrats railed against the bill for the right reasons but not addressing the damage to the U.S. health care industry. “Children will get hurt. Women will get hurt. Older Americans who rely on Medicaid for nursing home care and for home care will get hurt,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “People with disabilities who rely on Medicaid to survive will get hurt. Hospitals in your districts will close. Nursing homes will shut down,” Jeffries said. “And people will die,” making the strong case for the Senate to cut entirely Medicaid cuts from the federal budget. There’s just too much at stake for the health care industry to cut $840 billion from the yearly Medicaid budget. Republicans in the Senate know the consequences of the House budget cuts.
Democrats complain that the House budget bill is a giveaway to the rich at the expense of the working class and poor people. House Republicans did not include a provision to generate for cash by increasing tax rates on individuals making over $2.5 million a year. Continuing Trump’s 2017 tax cuts could at $3.9 trillion to the national debt and $600 billion to the federal budget deficit. When you add high interest rates into the picture, the payment on the national debt, it resulted in Moody downgrading U.S. debt to below AAA+, raising the cost of borrowing. Whatever happens in the U.S. Senate, no one who cares about the U.S. economy can slash $840 billion from Medicaid funding without plunging the economy into recession. Senators have a lot of work on their plate.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
