GOP health adviser Brian Blase defends Medicaid cuts expected to strip 7 million people of coverage

Brian Blase, president of the Paragon Health Institute, has become a trusted policy adviser to congressional Republicans who last year passed sweeping changes to federal health funding through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Medicaid program is now projected to pay out roughly $1 trillion less over the coming decade than previously expected, and the Congressional Budget Office's preliminary estimate says 7 million people will lose Medicaid coverage as a result.

The cuts were used to offset the cost of tax cuts. Health providers are scrambling to rethink how they deliver care.

Blase says the backlash to the cuts overlooks key arguments in favor of them. The article, published behind STAT's paywall, did not make those arguments available.