Pressure Delays Medicaid Cuts One More Week
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has postponed their markup from May 7th to the week of May 12th after House leadership failed to reach a consensus on how and where to cut Medicaid. Moderate Republicans remain concerned about backlash from constituents if they agree to cuts, while the Freedom Caucus is pushing for deeper reductions, leaving leadership in a complicated position.
House Republicans have seemingly found agreement on one thing: work requirements for “able bodied adults.” These would leave millions of people uninsured, add administrative burdens for providers, and result in 15,000 unnecessary deaths every year. Lawmakers are also considering reducing the federal match rate to states for their Medicaid expansions through the ACA, removing coverage for undocumented people (very few are actually on Medicaid), and requiring more frequent eligibility checks.
What does this mean?
It means we have one more week to fight back. Medicaid is the major sticking point in the reconciliation bill, and it’s advocacy like ours that is tenuously holding the line. Lawmakers are hearing from their constituents, and the public outcry is working! We’ve been given one more week to stop the House from moving forward with massive cuts. After that, our attention turns towards the Senate. For now, let’s make this week count.
Call your House Representatives TODAY:
- Call 202-224-3121 and tell your lawmaker no cuts and no work requirements for Medicaid.
- Use the talking points in our new FAQ about the connection between homelessness and Medicaid.
- Use new data on the number of deaths annually per state that will occur if the Medicaid proposals move forward. We’ve highlighted key states with persuadable Republican lawmakers in the table below. If you live in one of these states, your voice is especially important – your elected officials may be on the fence about Medicaid cuts and need to hear from you. But no matter where you live, your voice matters. Every call helps build pressure to stop these cuts.
| State | # of enrollees losing coverage | Lives lost per year – work requirements | Lives lost per year – shrinking federal match rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 177,500 | 562 | 1,154 |
| California | 1,100,000 | 3,481 | 6,559 |
| Kentucky | 128,000 | 405 | 892 |
| Louisiana | 124,000 | 392 | 1,067 |
| New York | 794,500 | 2,514 | 4,172 |
| Ohio | 169,000 | 535 | 1,470 |
| Pennsylvania | 186,000 | 589 | 1,981 |
Share your story:
Take two minutes to share your story with The Council so we can help illustrate to lawmakers why Medicaid is critical to the HCH community and what it would mean if HCH programs lost Medicaid funding.
Rally with your community:
We’re not alone in this fight. Communities across the country continue to speak out against massive cuts to Medicaid and other human needs programs. Find a rally in your community (here’s one helpful site) and stand with others as we tell Congress NO cuts to Medicaid.
