Ƶ Responds to Senate Finance Committee Bill That Will Kick Millions Off Medicaid
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate Finance Committee today unveiled bill language which, like its much-criticized House companion bill, cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and kicks millions of people off their health insurance plans.
Medicaid is a lifeline for the 70 million people enrolled in the program, including 15 million people with disabilities. Their access to care is now in jeopardy because members of the Senate have chosen, like the House, to include provisions – like work reporting requirements, more frequent eligibility verifications, and co-pays – that harm vulnerable Americans. These provisions will create suffocating amounts of red tape that will cause working people to lose access to care.
Deirdre Schifeling, Ƶ chief political and advocacy officer, had the following reaction to today’s bill unveiling:
“There is nothing ‘beautiful’ about this horrific bill. If we don’t stop it, millions will lose their health coverage. Full stop.
“This bill will wreak havoc on communities across the country. Without access to health care, our family members, friends, and neighbors will be forced to ration medications, skip medical appointments, and delay care – resulting in preventable health outcomes and even needless deaths.
“The senators pushing this bill are wrong: It does nothing to root out ‘waste, fraud, and abuse.’ In fact, this bill will increase bureaucracy, at great cost to taxpayers, causing people to lose their health care because they filled out a form incorrectly, had their work hours reduced, or had to take time off to care for a loved one.
“The American people don’t want their health care jeopardized by failed experiments and red tape. Senators from across this country – from Alaska to South Dakota to West Virginia – should listen to their constituents and abandon this misguided and deeply harmful bill. Lives depend on it.”
The House of Representatives last month passed , the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office would cut $800 billion from Medicaid and cause nearly 8 million people to lose their health coverage.