Senate Republicans are considering cuts to Medicare spending to help pay for Donald Trump’s signature legislative package.
The GOP lawmakers are proceeding cautiously as they expand their search for savings to a popular health insurance program nearly all Americans rely upon in retirement, presenting the move as an effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse. That includes cutting payments to health insurance companies that run private Medicare plans.
The pivot could open up hundreds of billions of dollars in potential savings for the federal government that Republicans could use to fund tax cuts. Yet Senate Republicans are divided on whether to include changes to Medicare Advantage in the tax bill.
House Republicans largely avoided touching the popular Medicare program in their version of the legislation, looking instead for cuts in the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income and disabled people and food assistance for the poor. They also presented those cuts as efforts to reduce waste, though many advocates of the programs dispute the characterization.
Medicare Advantage
One leading proposal for Senate Republicans is clamping down on private Medicare Advantage insurers to make it harder to game the federal subsidy system by exaggerating the health challenges their enrollees face, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said.
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