Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.

If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.h.edu.

That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes.

Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith Rogers.

Today, as a follow-up to our recent episode titled The Potential Impacts of Cuts to Medicaid,

we're partnering with our friends at the Tradeoffs podcast.

Guestead hosts Dan Gorenstein and Ryan Levy, both longtime health reporters,

take a deeper look at why many Republicans believe a smaller Medicaid program would be a better Medicaid.

Let's listen.

A new era in Washington has begun.

Trump do solemnly swear.

I Donald John Trump do solemnly swear.

The Republicans on the Hill with the United Front, first days of President Trump's second time.

Everybody looking at each other saying we're all headed the right direction and then it's a go. With Republicans holding slim majorities in Congress and Donald Trump

entering office, the race is on for Republicans to move on their list of priorities, including

Medicaid reform. There has never been a time when the Medicaid program has worked well.

Many conservatives believe the way to fix the public health insurance program that covers

80 million low income and disabled Americans is to spend less and to have Medicaid cover fewer

people.

Every member of Congress should be asking questions on both sides of the aisle about, hey,

we're spending hundreds of billions of dollars.

...