The Pressure Is On Republican Senators to Reject House Reconciliation Bill and Protect Health Care for Everyday Americans
As the Republican reconciliation bill moves to the Senate this week, reporting highlights the mountain of opposition this bill faces in the upper chamber. The bill, which House Republicans passed last week, includes the largest Medicaid cuts in history and effectively dismantles the Affordable Care Act through massive funding cuts, new rules and restrictions, and the elimination of premium tax credits. With this bill, Republicans want to make unprecedented health care cuts – and drive up costs and strip coverage and care from millions of middle- and low-income Americans – so they can give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations. Seniors will be forced out of their nursing homes, rural hospitals will close, cancer patients and children with disabilities will lose lifesaving care, and working families will face the impossible choice of going to the doctor or putting food on the table. As we continue to learn more about all the damage this bill will cause, coverage makes it clear that the political consequences of such drastic health care cuts are becoming insurmountable.
PBS News: How The GOP’s Proposed Medicaid Cuts Could Affect Millions Of Family Caregivers
- “The House bill, if enacted, would reshape how care is provided in this country in a couple of key ways. One, it’ll force states to make decisions about its Medicaid program and what to fund because of reduced funding. Usually historically, what is first on the chopping block are those home and community based services. So it’ll be harder to access those essential home and community based services. Second is work requirements. Really strict work requirements would add a really steep administrative burden onto the shoulders of family caregivers. Family caregivers who are already navigating really complicated bureaucracy. And then third will be a loss of health care coverage. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 14 million folks will lose health care coverage. We know that over 4 million Americans are family caregivers who rely on Medicaid for their own health care coverage. So that’s at stake.”
Rolling Stone: Trump Adviser Admits Republican Tax Bill Makes Huge Cuts to Medicaid
- “President Donald Trump and Republican leaders keep pretending they aren’t cutting Medicaid with their new tax bill, which will further enrich the wealthy and pay for it in part by significantly slashing Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans. Trump, who has repeatedly promised to protect Medicaid, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have both claimed that Republicans are simply targeting “waste, fraud, and abuse” in their tax bill, which passed the House last week. David Sacks, who is serving as Trump’s “AI and crypto czar,” put the Medicaid situation more plainly Saturday on his All In podcast: ‘This bill cuts $880 billion from Medicaid over a decade.’”
The Washington Post: GOP-backed Medicaid cuts could affect more than House races next year
- “With a handful of House Republicans either running for governor or seriously considering bids, Democrats believe their votes on this bill could play a major role in elections far beyond congressional campaigns next year. The Democratic Governors Association issued a statement moments after the bill’s passage calling out the 10 Republicans running or considering running for governor, arguing that voters in each state ‘will hold them accountable for their toxic agenda at the ballot box next November.’”
Axios: ACA Rollback Becomes Key Part Of Reconciliation
- “Although much of the attention has been on the bill’s Medicaid provisions, the final House draft called for an overhaul of ACA marketplaces that would result in coverage losses and savings for the government. The bill would end automatic reenrollment in ACA plans for people getting subsidies, instead requiring them to proactively reenroll and resubmit information on their incomes for verification. It would also prevent enrollees from provisionally receiving ACA subsidies in instances where extra eligibility checks are needed, which can take months. If people wound up making more income than they had estimated for a given year, the bill removes the cap on the amount of ACA subsidies they would have to repay to the government.
- In a letter to Congress, patient groups pointed to the various barriers as “unprecedented and onerous requirements to access health coverage” that would have “a devastating impact on people’s ability to access and afford private insurance coverage.” The letter was signed by groups including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Diabetes Association and American Lung Association.”
PolitiFact: Trump Said GOP Bill Only Targets Medicaid ‘Fraud and Abuse.’ That’s False.
- “The House passed the bill Thursday and it now moves to the Senate, where it could be changed. The House version doesn’t directly target Social Security or Medicare. But it changes Medicaid, including in ways that align with Republican priorities. Congress’ nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that at least 8.6 million people will lose coverage because of the changes. ‘Relatively little of the bill is clearly related to trying to reduce fraud or error,’ said Leighton Ku, director of George Washington University’s Center for Health Policy Research. ‘There are some minor provisions about things like looking for dead people who are enrolled or checking addresses. But the major provisions are not fraud, waste or error by any means. They’re things that reflect policy preferences of the Republican architects.’”
Senator Murkowski Calls Medicaid Provisions “Very, Very, Very Challenging If Not Impossible.”
- “Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said she’s worried about kicking Medicaid recipients who are unable to work off the program as well as the bill’s effect on rural hospitals. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she is worried that her state will struggle to put in place new work requirements because of its outdated Medicaid payment systems. ‘There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging if not impossible for us to implement,’ Murkowski said.”
- “Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), who has vowed to oppose the bill if it cuts Medicaid benefits, said he has concerns about new Medicaid co-pays, which he dubbed a “sick tax.” He’s also worried about the House bill’s freeze on provider taxes, which states use to help fund their Medicaid programs and wring more matching funds from Washington. Missouri’s provider taxes are relatively low right now, putting it at a disadvantage. ‘If you fool around with that provider tax in my state, you really risk getting to benefit cuts,’ Hawley said.”
The Daily Beast: Trump Adviser Says the Quiet Part Out Loud on Medicaid Cuts
- “The admission from Sacks came as he defended Trump for not pushing for additional spending cuts in the bill, which the entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the podcast’s co-host, said he wanted to see done. Sacks said Trump did not have the House votes needed to push through for more cuts, but Calacanis countered that the president has never been shy about bullying his way into getting what he wants. Calacanis’ co-host, Canadian-American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, was also puzzled that the bill’s only cuts are to Medicaid. ‘The level of financial illiteracy in this bill will come back to bite America in the a–,’ he said. ‘Period.’”
Matt Yglesias in Bloomberg: GOP Budget “Will Slash Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars in Medicaid Spending, Costing Millions Of Americans Their Health Insurance”
- “Politically, the toughest thing in the BBB is that it will slash hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending, costing millions of Americans their health insurance. There’s no other way to make the math work…Republican leaders have learned time and again over the years that House moderates always fold. In the past Senate Republican moderates — notably Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — have bucked the party line on key votes and even killed major pieces of legislation. But there are no comparable examples of House moderates sticking to their guns in recent years.”
Congresswoman Alma Adams in Newsweek: I Remember a World Without Medicaid. We Can’t Go Back.
- “Despite working full time, my mother still couldn’t afford health insurance and there was no Medicaid for her to fall back on. My sister had sickle-cell disease which, if you don’t know, is a rare hereditary disease that can cause excruciating pain. Growing up, I spent many late nights in the ER with my sister as she navigated her debilitating condition. I often think what a difference it would have made to have health insurance. My sister wouldn’t have suffered as much if she had access to comprehensive care and treatment. My mother wouldn’t have had to work herself to exhaustion to provide for us…Government programs like Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, housing vouchers—they exist to ensure that every American has the foundation they need to build a life of dignity and opportunity. Yet, Republicans are putting these programs on the chopping block to fund their trillion-dollar tax cuts to billionaires.”
MSNBC: House Republicans Vote To Defund Hundreds Of Planned Parenthood Clinics
- “Donald Trump and the Republicans’ budget bill could take reproductive health care access away from more than 1.1 million Planned Parenthood patients. Carrie Baker, professor of Women and Gender Studies at Smith College, joins MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss the consequences Republican Medicaid cuts will have on low-income Americans: ‘more people will end up with unwanted pregnancies … they won’t have access to cancer screenings.’”
The Washington Post: The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Is A Big Risk For House Republicans. Many Of Them Hope Otherwise.
- “The Congressional Budget Office reports that those in the lowest 10 percent of the income scale would see their resources reduced while those in the highest 10 percent would see them increased. Various estimates say the measure would add about $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, a bitter pill for deficit-conscious Republicans. The bond markets have responded poorly.”
Politico: Dems roll out ads hitting Republicans on Medicaid
- “‘The core argument in the midterms and the TLDR on this budget is it’s the largest cut to Medicaid in history,’ said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist. ‘As people find that out, they know it’s not a nipping or tucking of the program, it’s a fucking of the people on it.’ Democrats see Republicans as vulnerable on the issue with their own base. In 2024, Trump built his winning coalition, in part, on growing support among working class voters across racial groups — a reality emphasized by Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, who warned Republicans in February to be careful around Medicaid cuts because there are “a lot of MAGAs on Medicaid.” A Morning Consult analysis found that Trump won more Medicaid beneficiaries, 49 percent, than Kamala Harris, who won 47 percent of them. Trump told Republican House members this week to not ‘fuck around with Medicaid.’”