BEYOND THE NUMBERS
In Case You Missed It…
This week at CBPP, we focused on health care, the federal budget and taxes, Social Security and Medicare, housing, food assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the economy.
- On health care, Jacob Leibenluft and Aviva Aron-Dine explained that the Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can’t be fixed, as the latest changes don’t affect the bill’s core features. Aron-Dine showed why, contrary to Republican claims, the bill provides no additional funding for states. Edwin Park cited the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s estimate that the bill would cut Medicaid by roughly $2.6 trillion in the second decade (2027-36). Hannah Katch highlighted a new survey showing that Medicaid beneficiaries are highly satisfied with their coverage. Tara Straw reported that most people losing Medicaid coverage under the Senate bill couldn’t afford coverage in the individual market.
Sarah Lueck warned that an amendment from Senator Ted Cruz would worsen the Senate bill by eviscerating protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Jessica Schubel listed the ways in which the bill endangers coverage for American Indians and Alaska Natives and pointed out that its supposed “fix” in Medicaid funding for this population doesn’t eliminate the risk of large coverage losses. Aviva Aron-Dine explained why the bill’s extra grant funding for Alaska comes nowhere close to addressing the unique harms to the state from the bill. Shelby Gonzales noted that many immigrants lawfully present in the country could lose affordable coverage under the bill.
We issued fact sheets showing how the Senate bill would affect coverage in Kansas and Arkansas. And Jacob Leibenluft detailed why the Senate’s rush to vote on the bill is designed to hide its damaging impacts.
- On the federal budget and taxes, Richard Kogan previewed the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis of the President’s budget. Isaac Shapiro and Chloe Cho explained that House Republicans are planning to boost defense funding while cutting non-defense. Chye-Ching Huang testified before a House subcommittee on why tax cuts for the wealthy would do little to help small businesses and the economy. Emily Horton reported that the House is considering further cuts in IRS funding. Brandon DeBot noted that the House’s IRS funding bill cuts tax services for low-income and elderly filers while enabling large-scale tax avoidance by the wealthy. He also explained that wealthy individuals and corporations would still win big under the revised Senate bill to repeal the ACA.
- On Social Security and Medicare, Kathleen Romig previewed the Social Security and Medicare trustees’ annual reports on the programs’ finances. After the reports’ release, Paul N. Van de Water summarized the findings, which showed that the programs’ finances remain stable.
- On housing, Will Fischer, Barbara Sard, and Alicia Mazzara detailed the ways in which President Trump’s budget could raise rents on up to 4 million households; Sard summarized the report. Douglas Rice discussed whether the House will sustain rental aid for low-income households.
- On food assistance, Catlin Nchako explained that SNAP helps nearly 5 million seniors meet their daily food needs.
- On TANF, Ife Floyd, LaDonna Pavetti, and Liz Schott showed that the TANF block grant offers valuable lessons for why GOP proposals to convert Medicaid into a block grant or per capita cap pose considerable risks for states.
- On the economy, we updated our chart book on the legacy of the Great Recession and our backgrounder on the number of weeks of unemployment benefits available in each state.
Chart of the Week – Vast Majority of Total House GOP Tax Cuts Go to Millionaires
A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently. Here are some highlights:
Table Russia, Focus on Health Care
New York Times
July 13, 2017
Republicans’ Obamacare repeal bill would bar some immigrants from buying insurance on the exchanges
Washington Post
July 12, 2017
Why Americans With Disabilities Fear Medicaid Cuts
The Atlantic
July 10, 2017
Why it’s so hard for Senate Republicans to fix their health care bill, in one chart
Vox
June 10, 2017
