Washington, D.C. — Today, House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06), Ranking Member on Health Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), and Vice Ranking Member Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX-07) joined Protect Our Care for a press conference to call out Republicans’ plan to make the largest cuts to Medicaid in history. Tomorrow, Republicans in the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees will pass legislation to raise health care costs and rip away coverage from millions to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the text of their budget proposal, putting pen to paper on their plan to kick millions off their health care by enacting the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, raising costs on low-income families, closing rural hospitals, and enacting burdensome work requirements designed to deny people coverage. Their plan would rip health care from millions of Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, people with disabilities, workers who don’t get insurance through their jobs, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents. In addition to draconian Medicaid cuts, Republicans are raising premiums and out-of-pocket costs for tens of millions of people who buy coverage on their own. These Republican price hikes will force millions of middle-class families to lose their coverage altogether.
“Don’t tell me that this is a moderate bill,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06). “This is worse than what Brett Guthrie and the Republicans on our committee originally proposed because they are literally kicking people off of their coverage. They are reducing services. They are making it much more difficult for people to get health care. The fight has begun now.”
“13.7 million Americans will lose their health insurance and that is not a small number,” said Ranking Member on Health Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO-01). “Any time you kick over 13 million people off of insurance, it’s extreme. They’re going to lose their Medicaid in order for Donald Trump and the Republicans to give tax cuts for Elon Musk and his billionaire friends.”
“Cutting this funding for Medicaid isn’t going to save money. It’s just going to shift the costs,” said Vice Ranking Member Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX-07). “One of the things they want to do is shift costs to the states. One of the things they want to do is just shift people completely off of Medicaid. That means that people will wind up not getting care when they need it and not getting preventative care. While we’re hearing that these are such reasonable provisions, they’re not and they’re going to impact people across the country. ”
“The Republican push to gut Medicaid is indefensible and the same draconian plan they have had all along,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “In their outrageous crusade to hand out more tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy, Republicans are betraying their voters and the millions of people who count on Medicaid, including seniors in nursing homes, children with disabilities, veterans, and hard-working families. Medicaid is not an ATM to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. It’s shameful that Republicans would even contemplate ripping away health care from millions to give another tax break to Donald Trump and his wealthy friends. Every dollar Republicans try to steal from Medicaid is a direct attack on people’s lives — and they know it.”