Medicaid & Budget Reconciliation
On May 11, Republicans in the House of Representatives released their budget bill and it includes deep cuts to Medicaid. The bill is currently working its way through Congress, with the Republican goal to bring it to the House floor for a vote by Memorial Day. However, as of publication of this Update, the bill failed a vote in the House Budget Committee.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill includes $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid, that would result in an estimated 13.7 million people losing healthcare coverage. This would be the biggest cut to Medicaid in history. These cuts would be achieved through onerous work requirements and eligibility checks, higher co-pays for people just above the poverty lines and deep federal spending cuts that will force states to make difficult choices and reduce coverage. Still, there are Congressional negotiations underway to make even deeper cuts. You can find the Congressional Budget Office estimates for the bill here.
TASH is working in coalition with our allies at the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) and the Disability and Aging Collaborative on an updated sign on letter to Congress; we will share when we have it. For a video explainer see this message from our policy advisor, Nicole Jorwic, on YouTube or Instagram. And check out NHeLP’s “Top 10 Reasons Why House Republicans’ Reconciliation Bill is Bad for Medicaid (and the ACA)“.
What You Can Do:
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Continue to share stories about what Medicaid means to you, your family and your community. Call your members of Congress with a simple message: Don’t cut Medicaid. You can reach your House and Senate offices by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, to be transferred directly to their office. You can also find contact information for your Congressional Members using TASH’s Advocacy Tools & Resources page. |
HHS Reorganization
House and Senate Committees with jurisdiction over HHS held hearings featuring HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., about his proposed restructuring of HHS, including the dismantling of the Administration on Community Living. This included a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. You can watch a recording of the complete hearing on C-SPAN (part 1, part 2) or read about it on NPR or Reuters.
Washington Update logo image credit: Romain Pontida, Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic, some modifications.