Washington – Republicans from the House of Representatives announced the central piece of cost savings of President Donald Trump’s ” Great, beautiful bill Sunday night, at least $ 880 billion in cuts to Medicaid to help cover the cost of $ 4.5 billion in tax exemptions.
Account Hundreds of pagesThe legislation is deactivating the greatest political struggle on health care since Republicans tried to repeal and replace the health care law at a low price, or Obamacare, during Trump’s first mandate in 2017, which ended in failure.
While Republicans insist that they are simply disarming “Waste, fraud and abuse” To generate savings with new work and eligibility requirements, Democrats warn that millions of Americans will lose coverage. A preliminary estimate of the Non -Party Congress Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with medical care by 8.6 million during the decade.
“The savings like these allow us to use this bill to renew Trump’s tax cuts and maintain the promise of Republicans to middle -class workers,” said representative Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, president of the Republican Party of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who manages the expense in medical care.
But the Democrats said the cuts are “shameful” and essentially equivalent to another attempt to repeal Obamacare.
“In unequivocal terms, millions of Americans will lose their medical care coverage,” said representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the main Democrat of the panel. He said that “hospitals will close, older people will not be able to access the attention they need, and premiums will increase for millions of people if this bill passes.”
While Republicans run towards President of the Mike Johnson’s house Deadline for the day of the fallen to approve the large bill of Trump fiscal exemptions and expenses, they are preparing to flood the area with public audiences 24 hours a week in several sections before they join in what will become a mass package.
He Politics ahead is uncertain. More than a dozen Republicans of the Chamber have told Johnson and the leaders of the Republican Party who will not support cuts to health safety networks programs What residents depend at home depend. Trump himself has shunned a repetition of his first term, promising that there will be no cuts to Medicaid.
In total, 11 committees in the Chamber have been compiling their package sections as the Republicans look for at least $ 1.5 billion in savings to help cover the cost of preserving the 2017 tax exemptions, which were approved during Trump’s first mandate and expires at the end of the year.
But the powerful energy and commerce committee has been among the most observed. The Committee was told to prepare $ 880 billion in savings and reached that goal, mainly with medical care cuts, but also going back the green energy programs of the Biden era. The preliminary analysis of CBO said that the committee’s proposals would reduce the deficit by $ 912 billion during the decade, with at least $ 715 billion from the health provisions.
In the center of savings they are changes in Medicaid, which provide almost free medical attention to more than 70 million Americans, and the affordable care law, which has expanded in the 15 years since it was first approved to cover millions more.
To be eligible for Medicaid, there would be new “community participation requirements” of at least 80 hours per month of work, education or service for healthy adults without dependents. People would also have to verify their eligibility to be in the program twice a year, instead of only once.
This is likely to lead to more rotation in the program and present obstacles for people to remain covered, especially if they have to lead far to a local benefits office to verify their income in person. But Republicans say that the program is administered to those who qualify for it.
Many states have expanded their Medicaid lists thanks to federal incentives, but the legislation would reduce a 5% impulse that was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal funds for immigrants who have not shown citizenship evidence would be prohibited.
There would be a freezing about the so -called provider tax that some states use to help pay great portions of their Medicaid programs. The additional tax often leads to higher payments of the federal government, which critics say it is an escape that creates abuse in the system.
The energy portions of the legislation have much fewer pages, but include recoil of climate change strategies, President Joe Biden signed in law in the Law on Inflation Reduction.
It proposes to rescind funds for a variety of energy loans and investment programs while providing accelerated permits for the development of natural gas and pipelines.
__ The Associated Press writer, Amanda Seitz, contributed to this report.
