NEWS RELEASE
U.S. SENATOR GARY PETERS
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WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) joined 46 of his colleagues in urging Republican leadership not to make cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Peters and his colleagues underscored how cuts to Medicaid would have severe consequences for children, seniors, people with disabilities, and working families in Michigan and across the country. The letter emphasized that the proposed cuts would threaten the health and financial security of millions of families by forcing Americans to either struggle to afford or go without health care, mental health services, and other essential care. The letter also highlights that cuts to Medicaid would have lasting repercussions on state budgets, health care providers, and rural communities where children and non-elderly adults are more likely to be covered by Medicaid.
“Medicaid is a lifeline for communities across the country. Nearly 80 million Americans get their health insurance through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provide services Americans rely on to remain healthy, go to school, and thrive at work,” Peters and his colleagues wrote. “Republicans are proposing cuts to the Medicaid program from hundreds of billions to multiple trillions of dollars. Cuts to Medicaid through drastically changing the program’s financing structure or imposing additional barriers to coverage are dangerous to the millions of people who rely on the program. These proposals will also force states to make difficult decisions that will result in millions getting kicked off their coverage and providers struggling to keep their practices open.”
The letter continued, “The American people should be assured that Medicaid will be protected. We urge you to reject proposals that use Medicaid as a piggy bank for partisan priorities and continue to defend the importance of this vital program.”
Nearly 3.1 million Michiganders rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the U.S., provides health insurance coverage to nearly half of all American children, and provides care to 3 in 5 nursing home residents as well as 17 million women of reproductive age. Proposals from House Republicans to slash Medicaid would hit working families the hardest and shift a greater financial burden to states, taxpayers, and already-strained local hospitals and clinics. In more rural areas, it would likely lead to the closure of health facilities, leaving vulnerable communities with fewer options for care and decimating the health care workforce.
To read the full text of the letter, click here.
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