Alexandria Congressman Don Beyer (D-8th) is sounding the alarm about proposed Medicaid cuts that could have devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of Virginians who rely on the program for healthcare.
Beyer hosted a roundtable at his Alexandria office Friday with elected leaders, healthcare providers, advocates, and affected Virginians to discuss the potential impact of nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts proposed in a budget resolution passed by House Republicans last week.
“The House passed on a 217 to 215 vote last week the budget resolution that sets up reconciliation,” Beyer explained. “They are looking for $2 trillion in cuts and they charged the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, with $880 billion of those cuts.”
According to Beyer, the Congressional Budget Office indicates these cuts cannot be achieved without reducing Medicaid funding. This poses a particular threat to Virginia, which Beyer describes as a “trigger state.”
“If you cut 1%, all of the Medicaid expansion money goes away,” Beyer said, noting that approximately 681,000 Virginians currently receive healthcare through Medicaid expansion.
Delegate Mark Sickles, Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee in the Virginia House of Delegates, emphasized the critical role Medicaid plays in the state’s healthcare system.
“Medicaid is a program that we share with the federal government. We operate it and we pay for a minority of it,” Sickles said. “It is a very important safety net program and it would have huge impacts on our economy should we have changes.”
The proposed cuts would affect some of Virginia’s most vulnerable populations, including those with disabilities, the elderly in nursing homes, and working families who don’t receive health insurance through their employers.
Michael Thomas, parent and guardian of an adult son with intellectual and developmental disabilities, shared how Medicaid has been essential for his family.
“My son has a Medicaid waiver. Any reductions or elimination of that would be devastating to his care,” Thomas said. “He lives in a group home setting right now. That’s because of the Medicaid waiver. He has 24/7 support around the clock because of his disabilities.”
Thomas explained that without Medicaid support, his son would likely have been institutionalized. He notes that there are approximately 39,000 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Virginia who depend on similar support.
Colleen Leners from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners noted that nurse practitioners see a majority of Medicaid patients, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
“Medicaid is a safety net to a lot of different patients and it really covers a lot of our mental health, substance use disorder,” Leners said. “It’s vitally important that we don’t make these cuts really for the health of Virginians and our nation.”
Dr. Basim Khan, a primary care physician and CEO of Neighborhood Health, a community health center in Northern Virginia serving 40,000 low-income patients, warned that cuts would severely impact the healthcare safety net.
“Medicaid is our largest source of funding,” Khan said. “If there were cuts to Medicaid, especially at the scale that’s being talked about, it would truly devastate the safety net.”
Khan explained that community health centers across the country serve about 1 in 11 Americans, with Medicaid as their largest funder. The consequences of cuts would be significant.
“We’re talking about having to scale back services, we’re talking about having to see less patients, we’re talking about having less staff,” Khan said.
Freddy Mejia, Policy Director at the Commonwealth Institute, points out that Medicaid expansion, implemented in Virginia in 2018, provided coverage to many who had never had health insurance before.
“If you were a childless adult and you weren’t eligible for disability or social services, you did not have access to Medicaid, no matter how low income you were,” Mejia said. “When Medicaid expansion came into the fray, it allowed adults, many of whom never had health coverage in their entire lives, for the first moment to get health coverage.”
The cuts are being proposed as part of a larger budget plan that would also extend tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which are set to expire this year.
“The Trump plan for the Tax Cut and Jobs act is to add $4.6 trillion worth of tax cuts for the next 10 years, most of which is going to go to corporations and the highest net wealth individuals,” Beyer said.
Sickles indicated that if federal cuts do occur, Virginia would need to take action.
“We will convene the legislature to prevent that from happening,” Sickles says, though he acknowledges there would be “a lot of tough decisions to come if this happens.”
The budget resolution now moves to the Senate. If passed there, it would direct appropriations committees to develop a budget over the spring and summer, with potential impacts not likely before October 1.
Beyer encourages constituents to share their personal stories about how Medicaid has helped them or their families.
“We don’t want to be hopeless,” Beyer says. “The first thing we have to do is banish fear. Every one of us has to do something, whether it’s write a letter, show up at a protest, help other candidates running this year in the Virginia elections, give money. And I think probably the most important part is to tell stories, because we have to change public sentiment.”
