Medicaid is a health issue to watch in Trump speech
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Health care may not feature prominently in President Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday night, but whatever he says about Medicaid will be closely parsed.
Why it matters: Trump has said he would "love and cherish" the safety net program, but it still could be in the crosshairs as Congress looks for ways to pay for an extension of the president's 2017 tax cuts.
The big picture: Trump will likely talk about preserving Social Security and Medicare benefits, said Ryan Long, director of congressional relations for the Paragon Institute, a conservative think tank.
- Broader themes such as competition with China and Trump's plan for tariffs could include a nod to his recent push for pharma to reshore production in the U.S. and reduce reliance on foreign producers.
- An executive order on hospital price transparency could also make the final speech, Long said.
Between the lines: But the question may be what's left unsaid about federal health programs. The House adopted a budget blueprint that calls for cutting $2 trillion in spending, and that opens the door to hundreds of billions coming from Medicaid.
- Democrats are preparing to showcase that threat. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire all intend to invite Medicaid beneficiaries as guests.
- For instance, Rosen's guest is a Las Vegas teen who has received life-saving drugs via Medicaid. Hassan's guest is a New Hampshire woman who received addiction care via Medicaid and is now employed with commercial health coverage.
- Schumer also plans to highlight the effects of DOGE cuts, hosting a child born with spinal muscular atrophy who benefited from a National Institutes of Health clinical trial and a fired VA employee.
What they're say: "He will lie about protecting Medicaid while he has endorsed the Republican plan to cut nearly a trillion from Medicaid to give tax breaks to his billionaire buddies," said Leslie Dach, chair of the advocacy group Protect Our Care.
The other side: Long said he finds the Democrats' Medicaid talking points misguided.
- "The Democrats talk about the elderly, children and the disabled and policies that have been floated around have nothing to do with that population," he said. "In fact, the changes ... would strengthen the program for them and provide greater access to services."
Flashback: Trump used his last address to a joint session of Congress, his 2020 State of the Union address, to issue a call to "prohibit free government health care" for individuals in the U.S. illegally.
