How Trump’s Health Budget Would Impact States

Governing

By: Mattie Quinn

Just over one hundred days into Donald Trump’s presidency, he has left health officials with more uncertainty than most have faced in years. A promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, one of the biggest overhauls of modern health care, hangs in the balance. Waivers to transform Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor, are pending. And the release of the president’s budget on Tuesday makes it impossible to know how much federal funding they can count on.

“It’s hard to imagine that it’ll be enacted fully, but at a minimum, it reflects the priorities of the administration,” says Elizabeth Burak, senior program director at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

CHIP covers around 6 million kids from low-income families. Burak, from Georgetown, says it’s hard to imagine a scenario where we don’t see the rates of uninsured children rise.

CHIP has always enjoyed bipartisan support. If Congress enacts Trump’s proposed cuts to the program, “it signals a particular willingness to abandon the historically bipartisan commitment.”

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