What Does the Federal Government Spend on Health Care?

(By Juliette Cubanski, Alice Burns, and Cynthia Cox for The Kaiser Family Foundation Published: Feb 24, 2025)

Congressional Republicans and President Trump are in search of trillions of dollars in cuts to mandatory federal spending that could help offset the cost of extending expiring tax cuts. With spending on health programs accounting for a substantial share of federal spending, those programs are an obvious target to achieve overall spending goals in current budget reconciliation discussions. Medicaid has been the primary focus for federal spending cuts, but cuts to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act have also been floated. Cuts to discretionary spending, which includes funding for several federal health agencies, veterans health care, and global health, are not part of the reconciliation process, but the Trump Administration has taken unilateral actions to reduce this spending. Proposed cuts to federal spending on health programs and services have trade-offs and could increase the number of people without insurance; reduce access to health care; increase consumer costs for health care; and reduce payments for hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers. The effects would be felt by people of all incomes but would likely be concentrated among people with low incomes. Continue reading here…

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