Analysis | Republicans could be touching the third rail on Medicaid

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : Around 80 million Americans get coverage through Medicaid, and enrollment is relatively high in many poorer red states.
53% : The vast majority of the funds available for that committee to cut are part of Medicaid and Medicare.
47% : A 2020 KFF poll asked people whether they supported Medicaid cuts to make up for covid-related shortfalls in state budgets.
41% : " The reason was because while the bill doesn't explicitly call for Medicaid cuts it clearly lays the groundwork for that.
40% : Similarly, a 2017 Harvard-Harris poll asked people whether they would accept cutting Medicaid enrollment to pre-Obamacare levels to "reduce government spending and taxes."
39% : Some of the most striking findings: Just 19 percent of Americans say we're spending too much on Medicaid, according to a KFF poll last month.
39% : As Trump ally Steve Bannon put it: " ... A lot of MAGAs are on Medicaid, I'm telling you.
37% : The House-passed budget proposal pretty clearly requires cutting Medicaid, and that's a big political problem.
36% : "But let me tell you, we cannot get to where we need to go without Medicaid," Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) said Tuesday on Fox Business, adding that "Medicaid is where a lot of these savings could come from.
34% : Because: Medicaid. As the vote was succeeding, scores of Democrats chanted, "You're gonna be sorry!"
34% : "Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste and abuse.
34% : Among nine potential cuts tested, only cutting Medicare (7 percent) and veterans' health care (4 percent) were less popular.55 percent of Americans say the government is spending too little on Medicaid, according to an AP-NORC poll last month.
33% : While it doesn't explicitly mention Medicaid it instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut spending by $880 billion over the next decade to pay for things like extending President Donald Trump's tax cuts.
32% : KFF polling last year showed as many as 60 percent of Americans think fraud in Medicaid is a "major problem.
31% : While Americans appear open to the idea that there is waste and fraud in Medicaid, they have strongly rejected the idea of cuts.
28% : Given that Trump and others have said Medicare cuts are off the table, that places the focus squarely on Medicaid.

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