Monday, March 21, 2005

Senate strips Medicaid cuts

On Thursday, the Senate voted to strip all projected Medicaid cuts from the $2.6 trillion budget next year. When the House and Senate meet next month to write a compromise budget there is a possibility that Medicaid cuts could still be revived. As congress writes bills later in the year it will make actual changes in programs and tax laws because of the budget setting overall tax and spending targets. Other benefit programs like Medicare and Social Security consume nearly two-thirds of the federal budget and continue to grow. It is projected that these benefit programs will spend $7.7 trillion over the next five years. If current increases in spending for Medicaid are to continue, will the cost of the Medicaid program outstrip the revenue source?

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