Originally published on 4/2/26

Throughout President Donald Trump’s second term, he has made it very clear that he plans to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but some of his actions have contradicted that promise. This includes the Medicaid cuts outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and his tariffs, which have made it difficult for seniors to feel financially stable. Now, President Trump says he’s considering cutting national funding for Medicare and Medicaid to help fund the war with Iran. We share exactly what he said, and if he’s allowed to make the cuts. 

What to know about President Trump’s proposed Medicare plan 

At the beginning of March, the United States military and Israel attacked Iran. The two countries stated that doing so would address concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and broader security threats. They also said it would help Iran undergo a regime change, which in turn would keep America and the rest of the world safe. 

“This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching,” President Trump said on Wednesday, April 1, during his primetime address. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks…We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

The war has been met with considerable pushback, especially since it’s raised the price of gas in the U.S. by almost 36 percent. Along with the increased gas prices, the war has also cost America a lot of money, a factor President Trump has acknowledged. He also outlined how the country could, and potentially will, continue to cover the cost of the conflict. 

In a recent speech made before his primetime address, President Trump floated the idea of ending national funding for Medicare, Medicaid and daycare centers and instead leaving it up to the states. 

“We can balance the budget. We can have a surplus if you can stop that. And that does not include Medicare, Medicaid—that’s even bigger,” the president told an audience at a White House Easter lunch. “We can’t take care of daycare. You got to let a state take care of daycare. And they should pay for it, too. They should pay. They’ll have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to them to make up for it. It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare—all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal [level]. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country.” 

It’s important to note that these remarks were made in a private meeting held by the President and were only made public after the White House accidentally uploaded the speech to YouTube.

Some members of the press had already downloaded the speech prior to its deletion and uploaded it to their own social media accounts for the world to see. 

Bryan Metzger, a senior politics reporter at Business Insider was one of those people. 

“It seems the White House may have uploaded that video unintentionally. It’s now been made private,” Metzger wrote on X. But I downloaded it, so here’s the full WH feed of the Easter lunch earlier today. Trump does sound a bit more candid here than he does in front of reporters.” 

Can President Trump actually stop funding Medicare?

Since Medicare is a mandatory entitlement program established by federal law, President Trump can’t decide to stop funding Medicare and Medicaid. He can, however, make significant reductions through legislative action and budget proposals, which is how he could justify cutting the national funding for the programs and instead leaving it up to the states. 

If he does decide to do that, the move will most likely be met with considerable pushback from Congress and the American people.

As of publication, President Trump has not commented on the speech. Woman’s World has reached out to the White House for comment on the remarks but hasn’t heard back. 

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/healthcare/trump-medicare-medicaid-and-daycare-funding-should-shift-to-states