Congress continues to move forward with their reconciliation bill that would make the largest cut to Medicaid in the program’s history and rip health care coverage away from 7 million people to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Health Care For All has previously written about the reconciliation process, which Congress is using to pass this legislation with a simple majority. The House is looking to bring their version of the reconciliation bill to the floor for a vote by the end of this week, ahead of Memorial Day.
The good news is that this means we have an opportunity right now to make our voices heard and to put pressure on members of Congress that will be the deciding votes.
The proposed bill includes many policies, from work reporting requirements to frequent coverage renewals, which would add red tape and paperwork designed to cause millions of eligible people to lose their coverage. It would add co-pays, raising costs for individuals and families, and restrict state funding for Medicaid, squeezing state budgets and targeting immigrant communities. It would also raise costs and restrict enrollment in Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage, leading to further coverage losses. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis showed that an estimated 8.6 million Americans could lose coverage through the combined impact of the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the ACA.
Cutting Medicaid and ACA coverage would jeopardize access to life-saving care and treatment for all beneficiaries, but it would hit the most vulnerable the hardest, including seniors, children and people with disabilities, all to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. In addition to the loss of coverage, these cuts would have devastating financial effects on hospitals, nursing homes, and health centers, jeopardizing both care and economic stability.
This is a critical time to act and make sure Congress knows that they should not cut Medicaid and health care for people across the country. HCFA is partnering with SEIU to hold phonebanks over the coming weeks to push back on the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the ACA. We are fortunate that the Massachusetts Congressional delegation has stood up against health care cuts to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. While it’s important to continue to support them in this fight, we can have the biggest impact by calling constituents in key Congressional districts in other states to ask them to tell their members to vote no on any cuts to Medicaid.
The members we are asking constituents to call will be the key deciding votes, and every office is tallying the phone calls they are getting for and against policies like cutting Medicaid. This is the most direct way we have in Massachusetts to impact the outcome of this fight. Now is the moment to stop reading, scrolling, or mourning and to organize and take the actions we can.
We hope you will join us by signing up for a phone bank here right now!
Erin Gerrity is a Policy & Project Coordinator at Health Care For All.
