06.03.25

Cantwell Says Senate Should Dump House Proposal to Force Millions Off Health Coverage & Endanger Struggling Rural Hospitals

In WA, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” would compromise health coverage for over 270k people

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) for a press conference at the Capitol calling on their Republican colleagues to reject the devastating cuts to Medicaid included in the budget bill that barely passed the House of Representatives last month.

“If this bill is enacted -- reversing the gains of the Affordable Care Act -- it will increase our uncompensated care cost. One estimate: $42 billion alone in 2026 of uncompensated care, and $278 billion in uncompensated care increases over a 10-year window,” Sen. Cantwell said.

“The result in declining revenue would have adverse consequences for at-risk hospitals and rural communities. We have all heard from our rural hospitals warning us about this. How is it that our Republican Senate colleagues are not listening to those rural hospitals?”

She continued: “Do our Republican colleagues not care about delivery of health care in our rural community and the spillover effect it has to their economies? This is not scare tactics. This is a bill, if enacted, [that] will not result in savings. It will result in an increase in the uninsured. It will result in financial stresses on our system, and it will increase costs on all of us. And yes, it will cost lives.”

Video of today’s press conference is HERE; audio is HERE; and a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a reconciliation bill containing over $700 billion in cuts and significant changes to Medicaid, the federal program that insures many low-income adults and children, pregnant people, seniors, and people with disabilities. 

Medicaid, known as Apple Health in Washington state, covers over 1.9 million Washingtonians. On May 2, Sen. Cantwell released a snapshot report highlighting the impact that Medicaid cuts would have on Washington state's highly-ranked long-term care system for seniors and people with disabilities. In February, she released a snapshot report that demonstrated how cuts would harm health care access in Washington state, and she followed up with a report in March that dove into impacts on the Puget Sound region.

Highlights of those snapshot reports include:

  • In Washington state, WA-04 (Central Washington) and WA-05 (Eastern Washington) have the highest proportions of adults and total population on Medicaid (Apple Health). In District 4, 70% of children are on Medicaid.
  • In the Puget Sound, children in Seattle's blue-collar strongholds would feel the deepest pain from Medicaid cuts. More than half of children in Burien, SeaTac, Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, Renton, and Rainier Valley depend on Medicaid.
  • In an exclusive new survey of 68 WA nursing homes, 67 of 68 would cut services if Medicaid were cut by 5% or more, and 65% would consider closing.

Over the past three months, Sen. Cantwell also took a tour around the state to hear from folks who would be directly impacted by cuts to Medicare. Doctors, patients, and health care providers in Seattle, Spokane, the Tri-Cities, and Wenatchee warned that such cuts would devastate Washington state’s health care system and limit access to lifesaving care.

On May 21, Sen. Cantwell joined Washington state health care professionals for a virtual press conference to highlight statewide alarm and opposition to proposed Medicaid cuts. That same day, 23 Republican members of the Washington state legislature sent a letter to the entire Washington state federal Congressional delegation, urging the delegation to “protect Medicaid funding for Washington State.”

A full timeline of Sen. Cantwell’s actions to defend Medicaid from cuts is HERE.