Children’s Health Insurance Program funding slashed in Trump budget

Children’s Health Insurance Program

While that program is hacked down by 20 percent, millions more kids will be affected with the Medicaid reductions.

President Donald Trump’s budget plans will take down the Children’s Health Insurance Program funds by at least a fifth of its current size within two years. At the same time, Medicaid, a program that covers millions of other kids, will also be axed down in size.

Millions of families may watch their health plans disappear if the president’s proposed budget passes.

The budget, entitled “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” would give the Children’s Health Insurance Program a 20 percent reduction in funding. This would be a painful blow to kids health care. Furthermore, it is in direct opposition to President Trump’s promise to “save” Medicaid “without cuts.”

On May 7, 2015, Trump tweeted (@realDonaldTrump) “I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.”

That said, the budget would slash Medicaid by over $800 billion over the next ten years. This would reduce the health care program’s spending to cover poor families by a quarter of its current level.

Poor kids are covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and a web of other programs.

Children’s Health Insurance ProgramMedicaid currently covers 37 million kids, while another 8.9 million are enrolled in CHIP. The combination of these two health care programs provides one in every three American kids with health care coverage, says Kaiser Family Foundation data.

This flies in the face of some of the most firm statements Trump made during his campaign. He promised that Obamacare would come to an end in exchange for better health care. At the same time, he said that he, unlike the rest of the Republicans who were running, would leave Medicaid alone. That said, according to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Trump gave every budget cut his personal approval.

Aside from Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, cuts in the proposed budget also target other programs meant to assist the working poor. These include student programs, child tax credit, disability payments food stamps, earned-income credit and others. That said, spending on infrastructure, border security and the military have been significantly increased.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.