On Tuesday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the ‘Draconian Medicaid cuts’ some Democrats are crying about.
The article reports:
When the Treasury Department released its final budget numbers for fiscal year 2026 on Friday, what little coverage there was focused on the deficit, which came in just a hair’s breadth short of $2 trillion.
But what the “news” media missed was the much bigger story the report told. Namely, that the ongoing claims about “massive” cuts to Medicaid are one big, pre-Ozempic-fat lie.
According to the latest “Monthly Treasury Statement,” revenues in FY 2026 came in at just over $5.4 trillion while spending was just under $7.4 trillion, leaving a deficit of $1.992 trillion.
News outlets such as CNN tried to blame Trump’s 2025 tax cuts, saying they are “starting to have an effect.” But revenue this year is up 3% over last year, which is ahead of GDP growth.
On the spending side, most news outlets focused on interest payments on the national debt. But that accounts for only $82 billion of the $385 billion spending increase this year. Where did the rest of it come from.
Most of it was entitlements. Social Security spending was up $86 billion, Medicaid up $76 billion, veterans’ benefits up $39 billion. And, believe it or not, Medicaid.
Yes, Medicaid. You know, the program that Republicans allegedly “slashed” with “draconian” cuts that were going to cause untold horrors. Even now, the media are peddling the claim that Republicans cut Medicaid to the bone, causing hospitals to close and cost thousands of people their lives.
Just for the record, I do not consider Social Security an entitlement. If the government wants it to be an entitlement, it needs to stop collected money for it from working people!
The article includes the following chart:
The article concludes:
Incredible as it might seem, Medicaid spending is projected to be higher under Trump’s “draconian” budget cuts than under Biden through 2031.
It’s only after that, when spending forecasts become completely unreliable, that the spending lines cross the other direction.
And already, spending under Trump is exceeding the CBO’s forecast.
According to the Treasury report, federal Medicaid spending in FY 2026 was $723 billion – which is $15 billion higher than the CBO had projected just seven months ago.
The question the mainstream press should be asking the Trump administration is: Why is Medicaid spending still going up nearly four times the rate of inflation?
Because any time the government gets involved, the cost goes up and the quality of service goes down.