Health care, social programs on the chopping block

Make Me Smart

Marketplace

News, Business

4.6 • 5.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ 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 [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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.
0:10.6	So check out Million Bazillion, Marketplace's award-winning kids podcast that breaks down money to help dollars make more sense.
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.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 16 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.