Republicans have proposed block grants in various forms for decades, going back to the Reagan administration. Capping funding, their argument goes, would make Medicaid more efficient and ensure it can continue to help the sickest and most vulnerable Americans. The popularity of Medicaid raises the question of why Mr. Trump would sign off on a contentious block grant program heading into his re-election campaign. The threat posed to the program by Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act helped Democrats retake the House in the 2018 midterm elections. But if the new option is taken up by states that have not yet expanded Medicaid at all, Mr. Trump could point to it as a new expansion of health coverage.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2020 15:45 UTC