On Monday, President
Trump submitted to Congress his budget
request for fiscal year 2019. The budget request, which is not binding,
proposes hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions to Medicare and Medicaid
over 10 years. "America's hospitals and health systems believe that the
federal budget should not weaken our national commitment to provide access to
quality hospital and health system services that provide a lifeline for our
patients and communities," AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack said in a statement.
The budget request also contains a number of provisions related to drug
pricing, opioids, and other health-related issues, as well as infrastructure.
In addition, the White House released an addendum
to the budget request in order to reflect the two-year budget deal that was
enacted last week.