You likely saw this week that Congress passed a budget blueprint that includes significant cuts to Medicaid. The Republican House budget resolution instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion in costs through 2034. It is unclear how Energy and Commerce would achieve this amount of funding cuts without significantly affecting Medicaid benefits. Next, the House and Senate must reconcile the two bills and determine the cuts. The bill will then go to the President.
While there are many steps remaining before anything is final, this is deeply concerning. We need you now more than ever to join in the fight to protect Medicaid.
We’ve been working closely with The Arc US to mobilize our community to share their stories about the importance of Medicaid. It’s not too late to do that.
The Arc of Massachusetts team has been meeting with our congressional delegation to communicate our concerns. We will continue that work. We are lucky in Massachusetts that our entire congressional delegation supports Medicaid and stands strongly opposed to cuts. Still, we need to help supply them with stories to make their advocacy on Capitol Hill more effective. We are also working with our state leaders to ensure that, should cuts come, we are protecting critical services here at home.
If you haven’t already, please check out our Medicaid fact sheet that explains what is at stake. This information, combined with your stories, will help us to ensure that Medicaid remains strong and accessible to all who rely on it.
Stay connected to The Arc’s social media, Notes from The Arc, and our new Medicaid center as we develop more tools to collect your experiences and share further resources to help us navigate this together.
Stay tuned for a webinar coming soon on federal advocacy, Medicaid cuts, and concerns!
