Subject: Re: Priority #1 Is Fizzling
Trying to read the tea leaves in between working on projects, planning trips, and surgeries. Is Medicaid going to take a big hit?

Unknown. That's going to depend on the outcome of the reconciliation package - the One Big Beautiful Bill working it's way through the Congress right now. State of play right now is that the House has passed a topline budget blueprint to guide the reconciliation process, but it appears that Johnson had to make some inconsistent promises to get it through. The House hardline budget hawks insisted that it provide for big cuts to spending; the more centrist GOP House members wanted to make sure Medicaid wouldn't be cut. So the blueprint calls for a big cuts (about $880 billion over ten years from Energy and Commerce), but the claim is that this can be done without affecting Medicaid services - just by cutting "waste, fraud, and abuse" in the program. There isn't enough other money to deliver that level of cuts without reducing Medicaid funding:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politi...

It is unclear whether leadership can satisfy both the hardliners that the cuts are in there and the House centrists and Senate GOP (who also don't want cuts in Medicaid services) that those cuts won't affect the benefits received by insureds.