Poll finds popularity for Medicaid program

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that most Americans oppose the GOP plan to cut Medicaid, throwing into question the conventional wisdom that this health insurance program for the poor lacks the widespread public support generally attached to Medicare. (KHN is a program of the Foundation.) Meanwhile, a Senate GOP leader maintains that legislation that would allow states to reduce their Medicaid rolls could find its way onto the debt limit bill if governors build support for it.

Kaiser Health News: Most Americans Oppose GOP Plan To Cut Medicaid
Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Most Americans oppose the House Republicans' plan to overhaul and slash funding of Medicaid, the state-federal program that covers 56 million low-income people, according to a poll being released today" (Galewitz, 5/25).

Politico Pro: Poll Affirms Popularity Of Medicaid Program
The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll throws into question the conventional wisdom that Medicaid — unlike Medicare — does not have the widespread popular support that would make it difficult to cut. Opposition to Medicaid cuts to reduce the deficit proved almost as strong as opposition to cuts to Medicare. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they favored "no reductions" to Medicaid, while 59 percent said the same of Medicare (Feder, 5/25).

National Journal: Republicans Look To Medicaid As Winner Issue
Senate Finance ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, thinks repealing a piece of the health reform law that keeps states from kicking people off their Medicaid rolls could hitch a ride with legislation to raise the government's debt limit. But he says state governors need to build support for that effort. "I think we've got a shot at putting that in there, but we'll just have to see. The governors have to build the support for it, and they have to help us on that, and I think they will," Hatch told National Journal Daily on Tuesday (McCarthy, 5/25).