As Republicans work to advance a massive bill containing much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, one of the central flashpoints is its potential cuts to Medicaid.
 
The bill is still subject to change as it moves through the legislative process, but the current House version proposes cutting more than $600 billion from Medicaid. The changes put forward also include, for the first time, a national work requirement on the Medicaid program.
 
Experts also say there are a handful of ways long-term care services for older adults might be affected. Medicaid, the largest payer for long-term care facilities, covers around 2 in 3 nursing home residents, and reducing dollars to the massive, yet already resource-limited, program could have disastrous effects on older adults’ health, safety and quality of life.

PBS News’ Geoff Bennett discussed the impact on health care access for millions of lower-income Americans, the elderly and people with disabilities with Jennifer Tolbert, deputy director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at KFF.