Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez strongly yells at a threat to Medicaid as Republicans and Democrats prepare to mingle with Medicaid cuts at the Energy and Commerce Committee meeting in the House next week.
Progressive New York lawmakers told Rolling stones. “Medicaid is one of the largest insurers in the United States.”
Republicans are considering a series of recommendations for federal health insurance programs for low-income and people with disabilities to cut Medicaid to fund Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that benefit the rich in disproportionately. Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans are trying to pass the bill before Memorial Day, but for Republicans, the Medicaid fight is a tough battle, especially in red states where people in swing states or those who rely heavily on Medicaid. Nearly 82 million people rely on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance programs for health care coverage.
"They're not only for the sake of cutting health care, but they have a task," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Their task is to reduce donor taxes and provide giveaways for big oil, which fund their elections, large technology, which funded their elections Elon (Musk), (Jeff) Bezos, etc."
She continued: "To do this, you have to dig out what's left of the American healthcare and social safety net. They do it because they have to hand over a bag."
Ocasio-Cortez mentioned Wednesday a Congressional Budget Office report that scored part of the Republican Medicaid program. “They confirm that millions of Americans will be forgotten by Medicaid cuts,” she said.
The House’s Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to meet early next week to mark its settlement bill, which has not yet been formally introduced. Republicans have pledged to cut $880 billion in spending under the commission's authority; it would not have been possible without substantial cuts to Medicaid.
One way Republicans are considering cutting Medicaid spending is to add work requirements to the program, which Rep. Ocasio-Cortez opposes because it adds heavy paperwork requirements that could lead to qualified beneficiaries who lose insurance for administrative reasons.
Medicaid has strict income caps, so increasing job requirements can also force people to work in low-paying jobs to maintain their health insurance.
According to the KFF report of Medicaid participants, most people covered by Medicaid are already at work, which also found that many people who do not work cannot be due to care responsibilities, illness or disability. If the federal government enacts job requirements, the 2023 CBO report found that about 600,000 people will lose coverage, but the policy will not increase employment. During his first administration, Trump encouraged states to increase job requirements for Medicaid eligibility. When Arkansas implemented the policy, it caused thousands of people to lose coverage. Ultimately, the court stopped the policy.
Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez believe that the administrative burden of job requirements and the traditional Chinese tape festival will lead to the loss of coverage of Americans. Critics of Medicaid cuts are also very concerned about how it will affect rural hospitals and other providers who patients rely on Medicaid, believing that it will undermine stability for communities with Medicaid as health insurance.
The committee's markup is expected to be held on Tuesday.