Trump Budget Said to Include Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid

President Trump is proposing major cuts to domestic spending in his budget for the next fiscal year, most notably Medicare and Medicaid, reports Politico Pro . The budget for fiscal year 2021 calls for $2 trillion in savings from mandatory programs over the next decade, including $130 billion in savings from drug pricing under Medicare and $292 billion from cuts to safety-net programs. The Trump administration has been promoting various ideas to bring down drug spending. However, bipartisan legislation has yet to make it through Congress and other White House-generated ideas have stalled. On Medicaid, for instance, the administration has advocated more limitations to the state-federal health care program for low-income people, such as work requirements. CMS recently announced it would permit states to switch to a block grant program for the Medicaid expansion population, which would slow spending. Trump had campaigned on safeguarding Medicare and Medicaid. However, in remarks in Switzerland last month, he expressed an openness to possible cuts to entitlements. The CDC would get a 9 percent cut, although the $4.3 billion for fighting infectious diseases such as coronavirus would be untouched. Finally, the Department of Veterans Affairs would see a 13 percent increase in funding, though that's not all for health care.