Caring Across Generations: “Make no mistake: What we’re seeing is an even worse budget bill that will have devastating consequences for millions of families throughout this country”
(Washington D.C.) – Yesterday, Senate members on the Finance Committee released the text of their reconciliation bill’s tax and health portion. The Senate amendments would make already devastating cuts to Medicaid in the House passed budget bill even worse for the 16 million or more people who would lose health care if this bill were signed into law. While they claim their version “improves” upon the House bill, this version would do the following harm:
- The Senate bill language doubles down on doing nothing to reduce the high costs of care in order to create savings that can be used to pay for tax giveaways for the wealthiest and big corporations.
- The latest Senate bill language severely restricts how states can pay their share of Medicaid costs, leaving massive holes in state budgets, forcing states to cut vital services that older adults, disabled people, family caregivers, and care workers rely on like home and community-based services.
- The bill also increases the already massive cuts to critical life-sustaining programs like Medicaid affecting millions of older adults and disabled people who rely on Medicaid to live and age with dignity in their own home and communities rather than being forced into costly institutional care.
In response, Nicole Jorwic, Chief Program Officer at Caring Across Generations, released the below statement:
“Make no mistake: What we’re seeing is an even worse budget bill that will have devastating consequences for millions of families throughout this country. This version of the bill – in broad daylight – gives massive tax breaks to the ultra wealthy and corporations at the expense of the health and well-being of the communities our Senators were elected to represent.
“Medicaid is a life-saving program; It’s a promise we make to ourselves and future generations that we will take care of each other. This bill would cause more than ten million older adults, disabled people, and children to lose health coverage, and force many others to navigate red tape and jump through hoops just to access care. Any attack on Medicaid is an attack on a basic human right to access care and care for yourself and loved ones. Every person in this country deserves better. The Senate must do better.”
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Caring Across Generations is a national organization of family caregivers, care workers, disabled people, and aging adults working to transform the way we support and value care in America. For more information, visit caringacross.org. Caring Across Generations is a non-partisan non-profit organization that does not endorse, support, or oppose any candidates for public office.