Washington, D.C. – The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) strongly condemns the House Republican proposal that would slash at least $715 billion from Medicaid over the next decade and cause 13.7 million people to lose coverage, according to analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The bill, released late last night by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, advances massive funding cuts, harmful eligibility restrictions, and ideologically driven attacks on reproductive and immigrant health to fund President Trump’s agenda of tax giveaways for corporations and a massive expansion of militarized immigration enforcement.
The bill aims to cut Medicaid spending and coverage via harmful Medicaid work requirements, which would force low-income adults to prove they work 80 hours per month to keep Medicaid. The Congressional proposal is even more extreme than what Arkansas implemented in 2018 when 18,000 people lost coverage in months.
“The proposed legislation represents the most serious threat to Medicaid in its history. This bill acts as a backdoor repeal of Medicaid expansion. It punishes people for losing a job, blocks them from Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage, and strips away health care in the harshest, most punitive way yet,” said Mara Youdelman, Managing Director of Federal Advocacy. “We know that Medicaid work requirements do not work and that they are cuts by another name. Work requirements do not lead to higher employment and often exacerbate conditions that keep people out of the workforce. Further, by coupling work requirements with high cost-sharing and more frequent eligibility checks, Republicans’ proposal undermines the Affordable Care Act’s historic expansion of coverage for those who had been previously shut out. These policies are intended to terminate coverage for millions of people.”
“These are not just budget cuts. They are cruel policy choices meant to score political points by scapegoating the most underserved among us,” said Elizabeth G. Taylor, Executive Director of NHeLP. “It strips millions of people of life-saving coverage while making significant Medicaid cuts to states that use non-federal funding to provide care to immigrant children, and others who don’t qualify for help, banning gender-affirming care, and blocking Medicaid funding from trusted providers like Planned Parenthood.”
The legislation also ramps up red tape across Medicaid by allowing states to increase the frequency of eligibility checks and terminate coverage for people who fail to respond quickly. These changes are projected to push millions of people off the program, including older adults and people with disabilities. The bill would also restrict retroactive eligibility—which protects eligible people by covering medical costs up to 90 days before enrollment—which will dramatically increase the medical debt of low-income individuals. At the same time, it raises out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries, imposing $35 copays for medical services on people living just above the poverty line.
“This bill is a cruel attempt to unravel decades of progress in expanding access to care,” Taylor added.
NHeLP urges Congress to reject this dangerous legislation and protect the Medicaid program that millions of individuals and families depend on.
The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) is currently analyzing the legislative text and our legal and policy experts are available to speak with members of the media. NHeLP’s legal and policy experts can provide analysis of the proposal’s implications for states, Medicaid enrollees, and the health care system more broadly.
To speak with an expert, please contact:
Andy DiAntonio | Director of Communication [email protected]
