Trump could target Affordable Care Act and Medicaid to help pay for lower taxes, experts say

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

Updated on: December 17, 2024 / 11:21 AM EST


The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, remains popular with the public, garnering the approval of 54% of U.S. adults, according to a recently released Gallup poll. But experts say that may not insulate the federal health insurance program from change as President-elect Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans look to renew $4 trillion in expiring tax cuts.

Many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a signature law passed during Trump's first term, are due to sunset at the end of 2025. Republican leaders are now strategizing on how to extend the cuts, while the president-elect has also pledged to slash corporate taxes and eliminate taxes on workers' tips and overtime pay.

But renewing the TCJA tax breaks alone without reducing federal spending would add nearly $4 trillion to the nation's deficit through 2035, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an advocacy group focused on reducing the nation's debt.

Trump has already taken two of the biggest government programs — Social Security and Medicare — off the table for potential cuts. Reduced defense spending is also viewed as unlikely, meaning nearly half of federal spending would be protected, Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation,) said in a recent JAMA article. That leaves "Medicaid, which is the next largest source of federal spending, and the ACA as prime targets for spending cuts. The math is inescapable," Levitt stated.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-medicaid-aca-obamacare-affordable-care-act-tax-cuts/

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Link to JAMA PUBLICATION - With or Without ACA Repeal, ACA and Medicaid Cuts Are Looming

[Irish_Dem]

1. This is how he will sell the cuts. Lower taxes for the middle class.

He won't mention all the tax cuts for the billionaires.
Or all the US cash going into politician and billionaire pockets.

And at the end of the day there will be some reason why the middle class
doesn't get their tax cuts but they won't remember the original lie.

[cstanleytech]

2. Cutting Medicaid and doing away with the ACA will not offset the wealthy tax breaks.

The wealthy and the corporations should let the tax breaks go and be glad for what they have already taken from us before they end up losing something that they might value more than money...their lives.