Fact sheet argues Medicaid ripe for super committee’s shears

The congressional “super committee” responsible for finding $1.5 trillion to cut from the federal deficit or else initiate across-the-board cuts to government programs will likely propose deep reductions to Medicaid, according to a new PHI fact sheet (PDF format).

PHI argues that Medicaid will be targeted by the super committee, which met last week for the first time in the aftermath of a narrowly avoided government default, because of its sheer size. It was also noted that Congress had previously targeted Medicaid by voting for the program to be converted into a block grant during this past April’s Republican House budget proposal.

The super committee would be following suit with most states, which have cut Medicaid programs as their budgets continue to experience shortfalls.

Last month’s Budget Control Act called for the formation of a bipartisan committee of 12 senators and representatives who must propose ways to cut the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. The committee has until November 23 to submit its proposed cuts and Congress must vote on its proposal by December 23. If the committee’s recommendations fail to pass congressional approval, automatic cuts will be triggered to many government programs, including to Medicare but not Medicaid.

According to The New York Times, President Obama is expected to soon ask for hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to Medicare and Medicaid, much to the Democratic Party’s chagrin.

“[M]any say that if, as expected, Mr. Obama next week proposes $300 billion to $500 billion of savings over 10 years in entitlement programs, he will provide political cover for a new bipartisan Congressional committee to cut just as much or more,” The New York Times reported.