Looks like Medicare really is on the chopping block.
It is relatively well agreed on that medicare is unsustainable, given two issues - drastically rising medical costs and the baby boomer retirement.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/15/are-medicare-and-medicaid-sustainable
So both sides of the aisle are interested in making changes. The question is what changes to make.
Trump appears to be bending towards Paul Ryan's recent plan. It doesn't eliminate medicaid, but does change it in a variety of ways in order to control costs. Right now Medicaid is just like an insurance company, and if medical costs go up they simply have to pay more, regardless of the medicaid taxes.
One of the key points of Ryan's plan appears to be fixing the taxes and payout rate of medicaid, so rather than an insurance plan it becomes a subsidy, and seniors would have to choose a plan that fits the subsidy, or pay extra.
It's not much different than the ACA - you get a subsidy, not an insurance plan - from the government.
But Ryan's plan was released this time last year and doubtless will undergo many changes before it becomes signed.
The similarity between Ryan's plan and the ACA, though, suggests that changing both at once might result in an overall more streamlined healthcare system. It's possible that Medicaid will be eliminated as a separate thing altogether, and there will simply be one government healthcare system/service/bureaucracy, though I don't think that's what Ryan's plan called for.
At this point it's all speculation and rumors. "senior aides say..." is not something to become worked up over, but do contact your congresscritters if you are worried about any given rumors, your input may have an effect.[DOUBLEPOST=1479746965,1479746799][/DOUBLEPOST]When I say "fixing the prices" what the plan calls for is having the taxes/payout track a common index, like inflation.
The biggest hole in the plan is that medical costs are rising far faster than inflation. While accelerating medical inflation is due partially to the ACA, the changes being floated for the ACA don't seem to change the basic math so I doubt medical inflation is going to slow down any time soon.[DOUBLEPOST=1479747099][/DOUBLEPOST]Ah, and the bit about the similarity between the ACA and Medicare is completely unfounded guesswork by myself. I've not read anywhere that anyone has suggested combining the two in any way.
Reading those who say it's being "cut" or "eliminated" leads me to believe this might be the only way - seniors will still have medical support of some sort from the government, the only question is what that support looks like and how it's administered.
Again, non-factual guesswork by me on that little bit.
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