New Ryan budget would transform Medicare and Medicaid

Kaiser Health News staff writer Marilyn Werber Serafini reports: "The Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee surprised no one Tuesday when he released a spending blueprint that would drastically reshape the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the elderly and poor in an attempt to rein in their soaring costs. ... The plan, which the committee will consider over the next couple of weeks, would cap Medicare spending at Gross Domestic Product plus 0.5 percent. It would turn Medicaid over to the states in the form of a federal block grant, "constraining Medicaid's growing cost trajectory by $810 billion over ten years," according to the document (Werber Serafini, 3/20). Read the story.

KHN also posted documents related to the Ryan budget plan.

Check Kaiser Health News for more information on the budget proposal, including summaries of the news coverage detailing the plan's release.