Rep. Paul Ryan’s Cuts To Kids

As an advocacy organization that advocates to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions, we have been closely following the coverage of the announcement of Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as candidate for Vice President. We have read a lot about Rep. Ryan’s role in writing the House fiscal year 2013 budget, and what this plan would mean for the country. But most of that coverage has surrounded Rep. Ryan’s controversial proposals to overhaul Medicare (a clear breakdown of those changes can be found here).

What we have not seen much of is analysis of what Rep. Ryan’s budget would mean for U.S. children and their families. Notably, there has been little mention of the Wisconsin lawmaker’s plans to cut $800 billion from Medicaid, which would actually impact millions of more Americans than any changes to Medicare (learn more about the differences between the two programs here). Scouring the news over the last week, here are the articles that we have found and put at the top of our reading list:

Paul Ryan Medicaid Plan Would Slash Program By $800 Billion (Associated Press)
“Medicaid serves about 60 million people, roughly 10 million more than Medicare. It's a diverse population brought together by need. Most Medicaid recipients are low-income children and their mothers, but the costliest cases are severely disabled people, many of them seniors in nursing homes.

Ryan would also repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, expected to add at least 11 million more people to Medicaid”

Ryan Would Transform Medicaid for the Poor, Elderly (Politico Pro-Paywall)

Americans Don’t Support Ryan’s Vision to Slash and Ration Medicaid (Huffington Post)
“As a result, by a wide 70-27 percent margin, Americans oppose making significant cuts to Medicaid health care coverage to millions of our nation's children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has been proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman and current vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.”

FAQ: Ryan's Plan Would Make Key Changes In Medicaid, Too (Kaiser Health News)
“Ryan's plan would also repeal the Medicaid expansion included in the 2010 health law, which if states opted to do it, would provide Medicaid coverage to people under 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or $14,856 for an individual and $30,656 for a family of four according to current guidelines. The CBO estimates that would affect 11 million people.”

Romney's VP Pick of Paul Ryan Puts Spending Debate in the Spotlight (Education Week)
“Ryan's controversial budget blueprint, which has been passed by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, would seek big cuts to discretionary spending (which includes most education programs). In fact, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the budget could have "disastrous consequences for America's children.”

How Would Paul Ryan's Vision Change the U.S. Education System? (The Atlantic)

A closer look at Paul Ryan's federal budget plan (Los Angeles Times)
“The biggest single source of cost savings in Ryan's budget would come from cutting Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California), the joint state-federal program that provides healthcare for the poor and disabled, and a companion program that pays for healthcare for children.

Now serving 58 million low-income children, disabled adults and seniors a year, Medicaid is the nation's main healthcare safety net. Much of the spending on the program goes to long-term care for seniors, largely in nursing homes, which Medicare does not cover.”

Paul Ryan’s biggest budget cuts are to Medicaid, not Medicare (The Washington Post)

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