Key House Panel Advances Medicaid Cuts in Republican Tax Package

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Wednesday to advance Republican plans to cut federal funding for Medicaid, the US health insurance program for low-income and disabled people.

The vote means the proposals will advance to the full House as part of a package to extend tax cuts passed during President Donald Trump’s first administration, a priority for the White House and the Republican party.

Medicaid cuts are a sensitive issue for House GOP leaders, who have struggled to satisfy both fiscal hawks insistent on slashing funding and moderates concerned that kicking millions of people off of their health insurance will be a political liability heading into 2026 midterm elections.

Representative Brett Guthrie, a Republican from Kentucky and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee

Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg

The legislation would require able-bodied people without dependents to work or volunteer to get benefits, impose costs on more enrollees for health services, cut funds to states that use their own money to provide care to undocumented immigrants and roll back regulations under former President Joe Biden’s administration that regulated Medicaid enrollment and nursing home staffing. States would also have to check whether certain enrollees are eligible for the program more often.

The Medicaid cuts could prove problemmatic in the Senate, which is likely to make changes to the House bill when it debates the measure.

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley said Wednesday he supports work requirements and anti-fraud provisions but still has “a lot of concerns” with the House bill.

“I would not cut benefits in any way, shape or form,” Hawley said. “I think that’s the wrong thing to do.”

Congressional analysts estimated that the initial package the committee considered could cause 7.7 million people to lose health insurance. That can discourage people from seeking routine health care, leave them vulnerable to expensive bills if they have a medical emergency and cause them to stop taking medications they can no longer afford.

Protesters, including some in wheelchairs, disrupted the committee’s review and debate of the legislation earlier Tuesday, chanting “No cuts to Medicaid.” Democrats argued that cutting funding for Medicaid will cost lives, all to boost the wealthiest Americans.

“It’s Ebenezer Scrooge day at the Capitol today, taking health care from the poor to fund tax cuts for the rich,” said Democratic Representative Darren Soto of Florida.

The package could still change before the full House votes on it. Representative Chip Roy of Texas, a conservative who has called for aggressive overhauls of how Medicaid is funded, said last week that he believes the bills will change even after advancing through committees. Roy has expressed concerns that the legislation doesn’t make deep enough cuts.

The package as designed would leave hospitals across the country to cover more medical bills for a greater number of uninsured patients as well as hurt insurance companies that administer state Medicaid programs if millions of people depart them.

--With assistance from Derek Wallbank and Tyler Kendall.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Rachel Cohrs Zhang in Washington at rzhang698@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Scully at mscully32@bloomberg.net

Romy Varghese

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