The country's Democratic governors alerted the Republican plan, which they said would leave millions of people without access to health care.

A bill drafted by House Republicans calls for hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts and steps to make it harder to enroll or stay at Medicaid, a program that provides healthy coverage for low- and middle-income families. The changes included harder eligibility requirements and job requirements, the Associated Press reported.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that at least 8.6 million people will lose health insurance by 2034 and proposes cuts and changes to Medicaid. Republicans also proposed cuts to the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

All 23 Democratic governors signed a statement saying that “the cuts proposed by Republicans will be disastrous – depriving families of quality, affordable health care, forcing rural hospitals to close and causing fiscal chaos nationwide.” The statement also said the notion that the state will be able to backfill with state resources is “simple, incorrect and impossible”.

In an interview Morning versionKentucky Governor Andy Beshear was one of the governors who signed the statement, calling the Republican bill a "bad plan that will hurt families" and warned Republicans that they would face an election rebound.

Beshear also discusses his state’s reliance on Medicaid, in which the cuts in the program will hurt the most, how Democrats oppose the Republican Party while Washington is completely losing power.

This interview has been edited in detail.

Highlights of the interview

Michelle Martin: So, should your biggest concern become law? How do you see it working in your state? What are your top three?

Governor Andy Beshear: My biggest concern is that people who need healthcare coverage will lose it. Medicaid covers our loved ones, our parents and our children. Half of Kentucky’s children are covered by Medicaid, and 70% of our long-term care costs are covered by Medicaid.

So when analysis of the bill suggests that millions of people will lose health care. A set of analysis is set to eight million. This is almost twice the population of our state. This means the child will lose health care. This means that older people will lose health care. This means families will work hard to make up for these dollars and make up for this care.

Now Medicaid can also drive and burn rural health care. And, if you remove coverage for millions of people, you will remove a lot of revenue from these hospital systems. So what we will see is layoffs. We will see the closure, we will see people living in rural America having to drive for hours just to see a doctor.

Finally, the cuts to be snapped up are just mean and cruel. You know, my faith tells me that everyone should have enough food. The miracle of fish and bread is every book in the Gospels. In a country where we grow food for all, programs like Snap just make sure we don’t have hungry kids, we don’t have hungry families, and eventually everyone has the basic food they need to be healthy and get into that workforce.

Martin: So Republicans argued about two things. One is that there is a lot of fraud and waste in Medicaid. The second is that the plan's expansion exceeded expectations. And if you solve these problems, it will keep the program for people who really need it. how do you say?

Beshear: If you are concerned about fraud and abuse, there are already some troops following bad providers. I ran away one of them. Almost every lawyer’s office has one. And if you want to eliminate fraud, better fund these units and you will get these results. But what the program is trying to do is add a burden to those who are Medicaid to fill out forms more frequently to check the correct boxes to create more challenges so that someone can’t fill something correctly and they will lose coverage for a certain period of time. I also worry that this administration is trying to do social security by closing offices and closing call centers and driving for one or two hours on fixed income in one or two hours to the office and driving for a fixed income without the correct form. This is just to make it more difficult for people who are already eligible for the health care they need.

Martin: So, some within the Republican Party want more aggressive cuts to Medicaid, which they think are not far enough, and what they want is not in this bill, for example, limiting Medicaid spending per capita. So from their perspective, this represents a compromise. Should Democrats consider what to consider in order to address their concerns?

Beshear: I think you should always be willing to think about a plan. But harder Republicans will almost eliminate rural health care, if not completely. You look at rural hospital systems, which are the second largest employer in most counties after the public school system. Many of them have up to 40% of their total Medicaid income. Medicaid cuts have been dramatically cut, and even the program threatens rural health care. And I think rural Americans should be able to see doctors, clinics, and nurse practitioners in their own communities. So what I say to those tough liners is to go out and talk to people in your community. They are not for this. People learn about Medicaid in a different way than they were 20 years ago. They realize how important this is to their local economy and their families.

Martin: Given the Republican control over the two houses of Congress and the White House, can Democrats really do anything, besides making statements like the Democratic governor does?

Beshear: We can speak out, we can speak out, and so can all Americans. This is a very bad plan and will hurt the family. And, when you look at the number of votes to anything I hear in the community, they will react and react to the Republican plan. This will make Republicans not only in swing areas, but also in seats in many areas. So, I hope they don't. I hope they don't do this to protect the health care of their families. But if you are under electoral pressure, then that's it.

The broadcast version of this story was edited by Arezou Rezvani. Digital version edited by Treye Green.