GOP focus on lowering health premiums may undermine benefits

Republicans trying to dismantle former President Barack Obama's health care law have run into the same problem that bedeviled him: Quality health insurance doesn't come cheap, especially if it protects people in poor health, older adults not yet eligible for Medicare, and the poor. Now, the GOP's laser focus on lowering premiums could undermine comprehensive coverage that consumers also value, such as the current guarantees that people with medical problems can get health insurance, or that plans will cover costly conditions such as substance abuse.

23 million more uninsured with GOP health bill, analysts say

The health care bill Republicans recently pushed through the House would leave 23 million more Americans without insurance and confront others who have costly medical conditions with coverage that could prove unaffordable, Congress' official budget analysts said Wednesday.

Wisconsin seeks to be first to drug test Medicaid applicants

Gov. Scott Walker wants to make Wisconsin the first state in the country to require childless adults applying for Medicaid to undergo drug screening, a move that could serve as a national model. Walker's plan, which needs federal approval, comes as he prepares to run for a third term next year.

Budget office to gauge health bill effect on coverage, cost

Congressional Republicans are about to learn more about whether their drive to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law has been worth the political pain they've been experiencing. The Congressional Budget Office planned to release its estimate Wednesday of what impact the GOP's House-passed health care overhaul would have on coverage and premiums.

With big spending cuts, Trump’s budget highlights clash of values

To the Trump team, the president's budget proposal is rooted in unassailable values: respect for the people "who are actually paying the taxes," as White House budget director Mick Mulvaney puts it. In President Trump's $4.1 trillion fiscal 2018 budget plan, released Tuesday, that approach translates into deep cuts in social safety-net programs that Mr. Mulvaney suggests discourage work and hinder economic growth.

Trump’s $4T budget arrives on Capitol Hill

President Donald Trump on Tuesday sent Congress a $4.1 trillion spending plan that relies on faster economic growth and steep cuts to programs for the poor in a bid to balance the government's books over the next decade. The proposed 2018 budget immediately came under attack by Democrats and even some of GOP allies declared it dead on arrival.

Trump’s $4.1T budget relies on deep domestic cuts

President Donald Trump's proposed $4.1 trillion budget slashes safety net programs for the poor, targeting food stamps and Medicaid, while relying on rosy projections about the nation's economic growth to balance the budget within 10 years. The cuts are part of a budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year that amount to a dramatic restructuring of the government, with protection for retirement programs for the elderly, billions of dollars more for the military and the rest of the government bearing the bulk of the reductions.

Nation-Now 18 mins ago 9:46 p.m.Trump budget promises balance in decade, relies on deep cuts

President Donald Trump is proposing to balance the federal budget within a decade by making sharp cuts to social safety-net programs like food stamps and Medicaid and offering optimistic estimates of economic growth and tax revenues to fulfill the promise of a government back in the black. Tuesday's budget blueprint faces a skeptical reception from Congress, where Republicans and Democrats oppose Trump proposals to cut domestic agencies and foreign aid by 10 percent and are recoiling from a $1.7 trillion cut over the coming decade from mandatory government benefit programs.

Cuts to food stamps, farm subsidies part of president’s budget proposal

President Donald Trump's budget would drive millions of people off of food stamps, part of a new wave of spending cut proposals that already are getting panned by lawmakers in both parties on Capitol Hill. Trump's blueprint for the 2018 budget year comes out Tuesday.

Trump to propose big cuts to safety net in new budget this week

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, right, joined by GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks, inspects the production run of President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 federal budget, Friday, May 19, 2017, at the U.S. Government Publishing Office's plant in Washington. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, right, joined by GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks, inspects the production run of President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 federal budget, Friday, May 19, 2017, at the U.S. Government Publishing Office's plant in Washington.