Millions of Americans face the prospect of losing health coverage as new Medicaid proposals threaten even steeper cuts to the program. Under the new Senate proposal, Medicaid patients would face deeper funding cuts, stricter eligibility requirements and new administrative barriers. Together, these changes would lead to historic coverage loss and reduced access to care among older adults, people with disabilities, family caregivers, children and low-income families. At the same time, the bill would destabilize hospitals and providers serving local communities and burden states with impossible choices.
Medicaid advocates — including leading voices representing providers, hospitals, patients, health plans and public health organizations — are sounding the alarm about the devastating consequences these proposals would unleash on patients, communities and the broader health care system.
- AARP: “More than 17 million Americans age 50 and older rely on Medicaid as a critical safety net to stay in their homes, manage chronic conditions, and afford long-term care. We oppose efforts to add new burdens that could cost people their health care coverage not because they are ineligible, but because they missed a deadline or could not navigate a complex system. This legislation would double the frequency of eligibility determinations and add new cost-sharing burdens for the expansion population, delay improvements to outdated enrollment systems until 2035, reduce retroactive coverage and create broad new work requirements through age 64.”
- American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network: “If passed and implemented, these cuts and provisions designed to dismantle access to health coverage will, as projected, increase the number of uninsured people nationwide, raise overall health care costs and negatively impact state budgets. This bill attains savings by terminating health coverage for millions, impacting cancer patients by ripping away lifesaving treatment for individuals living with cancer, including children, force millions to delay cancer screenings leading to later stage diagnoses, and increase health care costs for everyone.”
- America’s Essential Hospitals: “The draconian Medicaid cuts contained in the Senate bill would devastate health care access for millions of Americans and hollow out the vital role essential hospitals play in their communities. This bill would take away health insurance coverage for millions of beneficiaries, including those who rely on Medicaid for essential and mental health services, and jeopardize the health and economic stability of our communities.”
- American Lung Association: “Families across the U.S. rely on Congress to make decisions that are good for the country. But by making even deeper cuts than the House reconciliation bill, this Senate bill betrays those families. The proposed Senate bill would eliminate health coverage for millions of people, cut programs that keep our air clean, and devastate our healthcare system. The American Lung Association, representing millions of people with asthma, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and everyone with lungs, strongly opposes this bill.”
- Association for Community Affiliated Plans: “The changes that Senate Finance made to the budget package still leaves millions of Americans separated from their health insurance, while forcing states to do more with less. If passed, this legislation would financially hamstring states – forcing them to choose between covering fewer benefits or fewer people, all while increasing medical debt and uncompensated care.”
- Caring Across Generations: “Medicaid is a life-saving program; It’s a promise we make to ourselves and future generations that we will take care of each other. This bill would cause more than ten million older adults, disabled people, and children to lose health coverage, and force many others to navigate red tape and jump through hoops just to access care. Any attack on Medicaid is an attack on a basic human right to access care and care for yourself and loved ones. Every person in this country deserves better. The Senate must do better.”
- Children’s Hospital Association: “The bill text released by Senate Finance last night is worse than what the House proposed and will be detrimental for children’s health and hospitals across the nation. The Medicaid program continues to be vital to nearly half of children in the U.S. — without it, all children will struggle to get the care they need from hospitals that will be unequipped to treat them. We urge senators to champion American children, hospital workers, and families and oppose the Medicaid provisions in this proposal.”
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: “This is not cutting waste, it’s cutting health care. The data is clear: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed that this legislation would terminate health coverage for at least 16 million people. Despite repeated public assertions, the Senate has clearly broken its promise by proposing a bill that threatens to eliminate coverage for people who simply cannot afford to go without health care, including people living with cystic fibrosis. The results of these cuts will be devastating — people with CF will be burdened with increasing coverage loss and, as a result, worsening health outcomes.”
- Federation of American Hospitals: “The Senate just made a bad bill worse. The Senate’s slashes to important state Medicaid programs will further threaten access to care for millions of hardworking Americans. Rural communities across the country will be the hardest hit, with struggling hospitals compelled to face difficult decisions about what services to cut. It’s imperative Senators take a detour on this text and reject its deepening of the House cuts already on the table. Senators cannot let their local hospitals shutter services or close their doors. Now is the time to stand up for hardworking patients, push back on these draconian reductions, and protect Americans’ access to 24/7 care.”
- Justice in Aging: “In truth, the Senate’s bill would starve Medicaid, undermine Medicare, strip essential coverage from millions of older adults and people with disabilities, and attack immigrants—all to line the pockets of the wealthiest. There is no justification for taking away vital supports for those who need it most—supports that are crucial to maintain their independence and dignity. These cuts harm us all – eroding the safety net that benefits everyone in society. Justice in Aging calls on the Senate to reject this bill and any other that takes health care away from older adults.”
- National Rural Health Association: “Legislation from the Senate Finance Committee proposes changes to Medicaid that will result in significant coverage losses, reduce access to care for rural patients, and threaten the viability of rural facilities. The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is extremely concerned by the Committee’s efforts to include similar provisions to those in the House-passed reconciliation package, H.R. 1, such as constraining states’ use of crucial funding mechanisms, proposing inflexible work requirements, requiring frequent eligibility redeterminations, and limiting retroactive coverage.”
- National Service Office of Nurse-Family Partnership & Child First:“While the specific provisions in the bill may not directly target pregnant women and children, the overall reduction in federal Medicaid funding is staggering and will impact care. A cut of this magnitude represents a massive cost-shift to states. And when states are forced to fill a $700 billion gap, health care and other essential service—even for populations like pregnant women and children—will inevitably suffer.”
The Modern Medicaid Alliance and its partners continue to call on Congress to block any Medicaid cuts or harmful policy proposals as part of the ongoing budget process.
For more information on Medicaid’s vital role, visit https://modernmedicaid.org.