Time for lawmakers to fix Medicaid

Congress is currently debating Medicaid reform as part of the 2025 budget package.

The stated Republican goal is a continuation of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year and need offsetting savings somewhere else in the budget. The original proposal was a $880 billion reduction in the projected increase to the Medicaid entitlement over the next 10 years, along with other savings in federal spending.

Medicaid began in 1965 as part of President Johnson’s Great Society legislation. It originally was a safety-net health insurance entitlement for lower-income patient...