Medical organizations are blasting the Senate's budget bill in the wake of its narrow passage Tuesday, warning of the dystopian healthcare system that will arise from the $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs if it is passed into law. The bill has moved back to the House for a vote on the Senate's changes.
Over the weekend, an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 11.8 million people would lose their health insurance over the next decade due to the cuts to Medicaid and other programs. Those cuts, which are deeper than the House's version of the bill, were maintained in the Senate's final version of the bill after amendments, with few concessions.
Organizations representing physicians, pediatricians, medical schools, and hospitals were quick to highlight the damage the proposal could cause.
The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Susan Kressly, released a stark statement saying the legislation "will harm the health of children, families, and communities." The cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will mean that "many children will not have healthy food to eat. When they are sick, they will not have health insurance to cover their medical bills—which means some children will simply forgo essential health care." And the cuts are so deep that they will also have "devastating consequences that reach far beyond even those who rely on the program," Kressly added.
Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, laid out the "real-life consequences" of 11.8 million Americans moving from insured to uninsured. It "will drive up uncompensated care for hospitals and health systems, which will affect their ability to serve all patients," Pollack said in a statement. "It will force hospitals to make service line reductions and staff reductions, resulting in longer waiting times in emergency departments and for other essential services, and could ultimately lead to facility closures, especially in rural and underserved areas." The result will be "irreparable harm to our health care system."
Association of American Medical Colleges President and CEO David Skorton and AAMC Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed echoed the point in a separate statement, pointing to "the bill’s other health and higher education provisions that would further harm communities and exacerbate workforce shortages." The AAMC urged the House to " reject these harmful proposals."
The American Medical Association, meanwhile, said plainly that "any legislation Congress passes must not result in millions of Medicaid patients losing access to coverage."
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