A proposal by Republicans in Congress to partially cover the cost of renewing President Donald Trump’s signature first-term tax cuts by slashing Medicaid will result in deadly consequences for vulnerable Bay State residents, Gov. Maura Healey is warning.
The impacts could be felt by up to 2 million Massachusetts residents who rely on Medicaid for their health insurance, the governor said at an event in Leominster on Tuesday.
“I think it’s horrible — my God,” Healey said.
The Republican proposal contained in the “big beautiful bill” touted by U.S. President Donald Trump calls for upwards of $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other government healthcare programs over the next 10 years. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the proposal would reduce the number of people with health care nationally by 8.6 million over the span of that decade.
Congressional Republicans say they are hunting for savings by identifying and ferreting out waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicaid system.
“Savings like these allow us to use this bill to renew the Trump tax cuts and keep Republicans’ promise to hardworking middle-class families,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky.
Their Democratic counterparts contend the bill will result in far fewer people having access to healthcare.
“In no uncertain terms, millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the committee.
It wouldn’t be the wealthy feeling the pain of the proposed changes, either, according to Gov. Healey, but the people who can least afford to lose their healthcare coverage.
“You’re talking about cuts to a really vulnerable population. I hope that Congress uses commonsense and doesn’t take away what is lifesaving funding for families in every single state,” she said.
During a radio appearance on WBUR’s Morning Edition the governor was even more severe in her choice of words.
“People are going to die, kids are going to die, infants are going to die. We all should be doing whatever we can to make sure these cuts do not go through,” she said.
Missouri Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, in a New York Times op-ed released earlier this week, said that it would be “morally wrong and politically suicidal” to pay for tax cuts with spending cuts to programs that help poor working-class families.