Republican senators' proposed Medicaid cuts threaten to send red states 'backwards'

Source: The Guardian

Republican senators’ proposed Medicaid cuts threaten to send red states ‘backwards’

Advocates fear Senate’s version of Trump’s budget bill could leave millions without healthcare and boost corporations

Jessica Glenza
Mon 23 Jun 2025 12.00 BST
Last modified on Mon 23 Jun 2025 12.01 BST

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“If we look at the big picture of our healthcare system that’s where the inefficiencies are – not in Medicaid – but in all the groups profiting off the system,” said David Machledt, a senior policy analyst at the National Health Law Program, referring to Republicans’ assertions that they are targeting “waste, fraud and abuse” with cuts.

“What these cuts are going to do is look at the most cost-efficient program and squeeze it further, and take us backwards, and put us back at a system where the people at the low end are literally dying to fund these tax cuts for rich people and businesses.”

A recent study found that expanding Medicaid, as was done during the Obama administration, probably saved an additional 27,400 lives over a 12-year period, and did so cheaper than other insurance programs. The same study found that about a quarter of the difference in life expectancy between low- and high-income Americans is due to lack of health insurance.

Republicans, such as Senator John Thune of South Dakota, argue that their bill “protects” Medicaid by “removing people who should not be on the rolls”, including working-age adults, legal and undocumented immigrants; by adding work requirements and by going after a tax maneuver states use to bring in more federal Medicaid funding.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/23/republican-senate-trump-bill-medicaid-cuts