Cantwell Statement on House Republicans’ Proposed Medicaid Cuts
Proposal unveiled last night would cause millions of poor Americans to lose coverage & drive up co-pays; GOP proposal could cancel health coverage for 780k Washingtonians
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives released a draft proposal to cut $912 billion from the Energy and Commerce Committee budget -- the committee that oversees Medicaid, the federal program that insures many low-income adults and children, pregnant people, seniors, and people with disabilities – by forcing at least 13.7 million Americans off their health insurance.
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, issued the following statement:
“The House Republicans’ Medicaid proposals could cause over 780,000 Washingtonians to lose affordable health coverage – all to give the very richest Americans a massive tax cut,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Patients who are recovering from illness, a complicated birth, or opioid addiction should not also have to submit complex paperwork or cover excessive co-pays. As I’ve heard around the state, these shortsighted Medicaid cuts would be devastating, and will only hurt vulnerable patients, force hospitals to slash services or close altogether, and cost taxpayers more in the long run.”
Medicaid, also known as Apple Health in Washington state, covers 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 additionally released a snapshot report that demonstrated how cuts would harm health care access in Washington state, and 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 two 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.
Last week, a coalition of Washington state hospital leaders and Republican elected officials sent a letter opposing any cuts to Medicaid. The group included the CEOs of Skyline Health and Klickitat Valley Hospital, as well as multiple Republican members of the Washington state legislature, leaders of Klickitat County, and councilmembers of White Salmon and Goldendale. The letter emphasized that hospitals in rural areas are especially reliant on Medicaid, and any funding reductions would result in loss of services or even hospital closures. The letter warned, “Any reduction in funding from any source will undoubtedly result in a reduction of services, reduction of access or worse - hospital closures,” and further that “Policy decisions that put a community's access to healthcare in jeopardy are a sure way to hasten the demise of rural Washington State.”
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