Health care, social programs on the chopping block
Make Me Smart
Marketplace
4.6 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 June 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every day this week, we’ll take a look at the ripple effects of the budget reconciliation bill moving through Congress that would enact President Donald Trump’s agenda. Today, we focus on the bill’s impact on health care and social programs. We explain how the Senate’s version of the reconciliation bill cuts Medicaid more aggressively than the House of Representatives’ previous version. Then, we hear from a listener about how the bill’s Medicaid cuts could affect the hospitals they work with, particularly in underserved rural areas. Plus, we answer a listener question about how states would absorb the costs of the bill’s federal funding cuts.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- “Senate Bill Would Make Deep Cuts to Medicaid, Setting Up Fight With House” from The New York Times
- “Hundreds of rural hospitals at risk if Medicaid cuts pass, Democrats say” from Healthcare Dive
- “2025 Budget Impacts: House Bill Would Cut Assistance and Raise Costs for Seniors” from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- “GOP bill would have states picking up more of the tab for programs like Medicaid and SNAP” from Marketplace
- “How Would Potential Federal Budget Cuts Impact State Budgets?” from Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
- “What are the Implications of the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill for Hospitals?” from KFF
Got a question for the hosts? Email makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, if you're listening to this, I will assume you're at least interested in money, |
| 0:04.5 | understanding the economy, and finances as well. |
| 0:07.0 | And some of us now want to get the next generation interested as well. |
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| 0:17.1 | Tune into Million Bazillion wherever you find your favorite podcast. |
| 0:20.0 | A whole new season is out now. |
| 0:22.4 | Million Billion is presented in partnership with Greenlight, the debit card and money app for kids and teens. |
| 0:27.0 | Greenlight helps kids and teens learn to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest. When you sign up for a Greenlight account at greenlight.com slash million. |
| 0:41.0 | Hey. dot com slash million. Hey everybody. |
| 0:42.2 | I'm Rima Grace. |
| 0:43.2 | Welcome back to Make Me Smart, |
| 0:44.8 | where we make today make sense. |
| 0:47.3 | And I'm Kimberly Adams. |
| 0:48.4 | Thank you everyone for joining us. |
| 0:49.9 | It's Wednesday, June 18th. |
| 0:51.9 | And as you know, if you've been listening all week, |
| 0:54.0 | we are spending this week talking about the reconciliation bill. |
| 0:57.8 | I'm not going to say the name again. |
| 0:59.2 | I'm tired of it. |
| 1:00.4 | But every day, I know. |
| 1:02.4 | But every day this week, we've been kind of looking into some different elements of the bill, |
| 1:07.0 | trying to answer your questions along the way. |
... |
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