Most Americans who voted for President Donald Trump oppose proposed cuts to Medicaid funding, according to a poll released Friday.
As Congress considers changes to the Medicaid program during budget conversations, a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that fewer than 1 in 5 adults (17%) want to see government decrease spending on Medicaid.
A joint federal and state program, Medicaid helps cover medical costs for citizens with limited income and resources, according to the Department of Health and Human Services website. The federal government provides general rules, but eligibility requirements and benefits vary from state to state because each state runs its own program.
The administration should “cherish and love Medicaid,” as Trump has promised, but not without several reforms, according to Nina Owcharenko Schaefer, the director for the Center of Health and Welfare Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Any program with 80 million enrollees that costs taxpayers nearly $1 trillion per year warrants scrutiny, Schaefer said in a recent op-ed in MSN.
“Just because it serves low-income individuals doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t have proper oversight and regular review,” Schaefer wrote. “If anything, Medicaid merits additional review to improve its integrity and ensure it serves those who need it most. Medicaid advocates should applaud efforts to bring greater oversight, accountability, and transparency to the program.”
According to the Kaiser poll, a plurality of Republicans and Trump voters of all parties (43%) said they want to see government spending for Medicaid kept about the same, while 42% of total respondents said they want Medicaid spending increased. Only 9% of total respondents wanted spending to decrease “a lot,” and 8% wanted it to decrease “a little.”
A large portion of independents sided with Republicans, with 46% in favor of keeping spending about the same. Democrats favored Medicaid, with 63% in support of increasing government spending on the program, 31% wanting spending kept the same, and only 5% in favor of decreasing spending.
Majorities across all partisan groups said they think proposed cuts to Medicaid are more about reducing overall government spending than about improving how the program works for people.
Majorities across all groups also said Medicaid is “somewhat important” or “very important” to their communities, with about 3 in 4 (73%) of total respondents saying it is “very important.”
While more than half (53%) said they or a family member had been covered by Medicaid, most Americans showed confusion about whom the program benefits. Sixty-two percent incorrectly answered that most working-age adults who have Medicaid are unemployed. Most working-age adults receiving Medicaid are employed, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
More than half (62%) those surveyed supported work requirements for able-bodied people on Medicaid, a measure that Republican congressmen have suggested to improve the system, with about 8 in 10 (82%) of Republicans in support of the requirement. Forty-seven percent of Democrats and 60% of independents also supported work requirements.
