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The White House has suggested that President Donald Trump could be open to altering aspects of Medicare after it updated a statement given to a news outlet on Wednesday.
Newsweek has contacted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services via email for comment.
Why it Matters
This comes after Trump said alongside Elon Musk in their interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, which aired on Tuesday, that Medicare would be “untouched,” as would Medicaid, despite House Republicans’ calls to make cuts to government spending with the release of its budget last week.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute summit in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 19, 2025 (right) and a Medicare card rests on top of a letter that says…
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute summit in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 19, 2025 (right) and a Medicare card rests on top of a letter that says “Welcome to Medicare” (right).
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Rebecca Blackwell left) and Jenny Kane (right/AP
What To Know
On Wednesday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in an initial statement to POLITICO that “the Trump administration is committed to protecting Medicare and Medicaid while slashing the waste, fraud, and abuse within those programs—reforms that will increase efficiency and improve care for beneficiaries.”
Then, after the outlet’s article was published, Desai sent POLITICO an updated statement that removed the mention of Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people aged 65 or older, and for some younger individuals with certain disabilities or conditions.
This meant the new statement specified that only Medicaid would be protected while Medicare would not be.
The president had said, during the Fox News interview released on Tuesday: “Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid—none of that stuff is going to be touched. Now, if there are illegal migrants in the system, we’re going to get them out.”
The president’s comment followed a bipartisan outcry over the House Republicans’ budget that outlined goals to cut government spending, goals which seemed to forebode potential cuts in funding for Medicare and Medicaid.
The budget particularly seemed to put Medicaid and Medicare in the spotlight given that they are both extremely costly to run.
The federal government spent nearly $1.5 trillion on health care in fiscal 2022, Medicare taking up $747 billion and Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program costing $609 billion, according to the Tax Policy Center.
What People Are Saying
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, said to POLITICO in an interview, while commenting on the need for more guidance from the administration in regards to funding cuts: “We’ll sit down and talk with the president about our specific cuts if we decide to make them, and we’ll work it out.”
Sahil Kapur, an NBC News senior political reporter, on X, formerly Twitter: “No Medicaid spending cuts? This will come as news to House Republicans.”
Delaware’s Member of Congress Sarah McBride, on X: “Trump lied to all of us about Project 2025 during the course of the election. We certainly shouldn’t believe them when they are clearly lying to us about Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare.”
National Nurses United, the largest RN union in U.S. history, on X: “Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid would ravage essential health care services for approximately 40 percent of the U.S. population. Nurses are fighting back against these attempts to enrich corporate America at the expense of the working class!”
What’s Next
It is up to the House Energy and Commerce Committee to decide what programs and areas will see funding cuts under the new budget, and so far it is uncertain what will happen to both Medicare and Medicaid.
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