Representative Image of US Capitol / Reuters

The House has proposed an $800 billion slash to the Medicaid budget, the largest cut in the history of the program. The Senate is poised to consider a similar measure in April. The Congress could make major cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP, that working people rely on for healthcare, without Democratic votes, said the panelist at Ethnic Media Services.

They can do it without Democratic votes

“The stakes are very high,” warned Stan Dorn, Director of the Health Policy Project at UnidosUS. “There are special fast-track procedures that enable bills to pass quickly and without resistance. Most bills have to get 60 votes in the Senate to pass, which means you need Democratic as well as Republican support to pass them. Not so with these bills. They can pass entirely by Republican votes alone.”

The House budget resolution, which passed by a single vote, got passed by a straight party line vote. Every Republican but one voted for it. Every Democrat voted against it.

The proposed cuts would impact everybody when the healthcare system is starved of funds. “The magnitude of the cuts is just extraordinary. Nothing in American history has been remotely this size.”

Medicaid covers nearly half of all children in the United States. Medicaid also covers 41 percent of all births, said Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families and Research Professor at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy Foundation, “The Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, just sits on the shoulders of its much larger sister program, Medicaid.  So, you can see how tremendously important Medicaid is for families. Medicaid also covers the majority of seniors in nursing homes. If you cut Medicaid, other parts of our healthcare system won't work as well either.”

Healthcare cuts will impact all regardless of race or ethnicity

Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Families USA pointed out that the health care cuts will impact the healthcare system we all depend on, regardless of our race or ethnicity.

It would directly harm the health and economic vitality of every corner of our country.  Cuts of hundreds of billions of dollars will harm the hospitals and therefore everybody in the community who uses those healthcare facilities.

“Even if we do not directly depend on Medicaid our local hospitals and clinics do. The American people realize that our healthcare system is stronger when everybody is getting primary and preventive care. It keeps children healthy in school and ready to learn.”

With Medicaid, children miss fewer school days, graduate high school, and earn more as adults. Parents and caregivers are able to focus on their families, on what matters most rather than constantly worrying about putting food on the table or affecting medical care. And older adults, our parents and grandparents have the support that they need for long-term care to live comfortably and with dignity in their own homes.

Costs shift to the states

This will have ripple effects on all areas of state budgets. Medicaid is a combined federal-state program. States will not be able to make up for these large federal cuts. “When the feds pay less money for Medicaid, the state has to decide whether they are going to have to cut budgets for K-12 education, police, roads, fires.”

Impact on politicians

New polling tells us that nearly 75 percent of Americans agree that Medicaid is very important to their local community, that includes over 60 percent of Trump voters.

Last November, people voted with their wallets seeking greater affordability including healthcare. The cuts proposed in the budget resolution passed just a few weeks ago, would shred our safety net by not just forcing families to lose coverage and access to key healthcare services but shifting costs onto people who are already struggling with costs for everything else. It's the opposite of what voters called for.

“These working-class voters are a swing constituency that both parties say they are seeking to represent.”

Take action. It is not a done deal yet

The most important takeaway here is that this is not a done deal. According to Speaker Johnson, he wants to have it done and signed by Memorial Day.

“The budget process that we're engaged in right now is this two-step process. Budget resolution, which is where we are right now, and budget reconciliation.”

“People can share their opinions with their members of Congress. The Republicans can’t pass this legislation by a straight party line vote if they lose just two votes in the House of Representatives.”