President's Budget Risks Children's Health

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump released his budget for FY 2021 calling for deep cuts to Medicaid and the elimination of the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program. These budget actions would undermine the health of children and the future of our nation. Children’s hospitals—on behalf of the patients and families we serve—call on Congress to strengthen our investment in children’s health rather than cut back on our commitments to our children’s future.
 
Nearly half the children in the country, more than 36 million, rely on Medicaid as the insurance program for their health care. President Trump’s budget calls for $920 billion in cuts to Medicaid over 10 years through changes that would impact children’s access to the program and the funding that supports care to children reliant on Medicaid. 
 
The budget also risks children’s ability to see pediatric doctors by eliminating CHGME as a program. CHGME supports the training of half the nation’s pediatricians, and the budget would cut the total funding available for training all physicians by $52 billion over 10 years. Cuts of this magnitude would worsen the shortages of pediatrics specialists, in such critical areas as behavioral and mental health and primary care in rural areas of the country. 
 
Children’s hospitals recognize the need to address budget deficits and call on the administration and White House to work with the pediatric community on solutions to improve fiscal accountability while continuing to support the health of our nation’s children. We urge Congress to reject proposals harming children’s insurance coverage and access to the expert physicians who care for them. America’s future depends on our children having opportunities to become healthy—physically and mentally—adults.