Senate Considers Harmful Budget Reconciliation Bill in Push to Vote by July 4th

Congress is working quickly to get a budget bill to the President by July 4th, with the Senate working through the weekend to pass their version of the bill, which includes devastating cuts that strip healthcare away from 16 million people. It's important to act now to stop this bill. Read on for more information about what's in the bill and how to take action.

The Senate’s version of the budget bill is worse than the bill that passed the House on May 22nd. It includes even deeper cuts to Medicaid and other important programs like the Affordable Care Act and Food Assistance (SNAP). The Senate and House bills both hurt millions of Americans by taking away their healthcare while putting immense financial burden on already-strained state budgets and devestating local health systems, rural hospitals, and economies.

From Bad to Worse

Here are just some of the ways the Senate’s bill will further harm Pennsylvanians:
 

• Massive Health Coverage Losses: This bill would take away health coverage from 16 million people nationwide, including nearly 600,000 Pennsylvanians who rely on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage foressential coverage and care.
   

• Restrictive Work Reporting Requirements: The bill keeps the harmful work reporting requirements from the House bill and makes them even worse by requiring some parents and unhoused people to also work in order to access health care through Medicaid.  Those penalized by work reporting requirements include people who lose their job as well as gig workers and others with schedules that are unpredictable and/or vary. Direct care workers, who may have shifts cancelled when someone is hospitalized, are especially at risk. This could make direct care work unattractive, making the ongoing direct care workforce shortage even worse. Additionally, work requirements do nothing to address unemployment, but will cost Pennsylvania millions of dollars to implement.  See what happened when Georgia and Arkansas imposed work requirements in Medicaid.
   

• Takes Away Billions of Dollars of Federal Medicaid Funding from Pennsylvania: The Senate bill further limits how states, including Pennsylvania, use taxes on health care providers to help pay their share of the Medicaid program.  This loss of funding will lead to further cuts to Medicaid coverage and services for vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities and seniors.
   

• Increased Co-pays: It expands Medicaid co-pays for certain adults, making it harder for low-income and working families to access necessary healthcare.
   

• Cuts Immigrant Access to Healthcare: Lawfully residing Immigrants—including those who are refugees, asylees, victims of domestic violence and human trafficking—will be stripped of their health coverage due to these harmful changes.
   

• Harmful Red Tape: The bill creates additional bureaucratic hurdles for individuals trying to apply for and keep Medicaid coverage, making an already complicated process even more difficult to navigate. Nearly 1.5 million eligible Pennsylvanians already lose Medicaid every year, primarily due to paperwork mistakes and delays at the County Assistance Offices. Most reapply and get coverage back, but only after months where they have gaps in care and/or incur medical debt.
   

To learn more about the Senate’s version of the bill, see KFF’s chart comparing the Medicaid provisions in the House and Senate Budget Bills, as well as NHeLP’s Top 10 Reasons Why the Senate’s Reconciliation Bill Is Worse than the House Bill Regarding Health Coverage.

Act Now to Prevent These Cuts!

The Senate is gearing up for a vote as early as today. Call Senators McCormick and Fetterman to let them know you’re against the healthcare cuts in the Senate Bill that will cause millions of people to lose life-sustaining coverage and services as well as increase healthcare costs for everyone.  

To reach Senators Fetterman and McCormick, call the Capitol Switchboard at
(202) 224-3121. Click here for more resources about taking action to oppose these cuts.

Even though the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that certain health provisions within the bill (here and here) could not move forward, the Senate can still rewrite those sections and move the bill to a vote.  In other words, the Parliamentarian’s rulings do not stop the Senate from advancing the bill to the floor for a vote.