Healthcare Associations Express Dismay Over Proposed Medicaid Cuts
In the wake of the May 11 release of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s healthcare-related proposals in the U.S. Congress’s FY2026 budget legislation, national associations representing healthcare providers and vulnerable populations, are expressing alarm and dismay over the massive Medicaid cuts and other features included in the legislation, which now awaits markup.
On Monday, May 12, Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, stated in a press release posted to the AHA’s website, that “The magnitude of the proposals contained in the Energy and Commerce reconciliation text represents a devastating blow to the health and well-being of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens and communities. There is no avoiding the real-life consequences they will create for hospitals serving our most vulnerable and hard-working families. These proposed cuts will not make the Medicaid program work better for the 72 million Americans who rely on it. Instead, it will lead to millions of hardworking Americans losing access to health care and many of our nation’s hospitals struggling to maintain services and stay open for their communities. We urge Congress to reject efforts to dismantle this vital program,” Pollack stated.
A similar statement was made by the leaders of the Washington, D.C.-based America’s Essential Hospitals. Bruce Siegel, M.D., M.P.H., the association’s president and CEO said on May 12 that “America’s Essential Hospitals is deeply concerned by the draft reconciliation bill text released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,” Dr. Siegel said. This proposal, which includes sweeping cuts to the Medicaid program, poses a grave threat to the health and well-being of millions of Americans and to the essential hospitals that serve as lifelines in their communities. Slashing Medicaid funding is not just a numbers game — it is an action that will rip health care access from communities across America, disproportionately harming low-income individuals, rural populations, and hardworking Americans who rely on Medicaid for access to lifesaving care.”
Indeed, Siegel said, “The bill proposes to cut at least $715 billion and will leave at least 13.7 million more Americans without health insurance. This unprecedented level of Medicaid cuts would devastate the program, undermining the ability of essential hospitals to provide critical services, including trauma care, behavioral health, maternal health, and public health emergency response. These hospitals, which already operate on thin margins, cannot absorb such losses without reducing services or closing their doors altogether. We urge lawmakers to reconsider this dangerous path. Cutting Medicaid to pay for tax breaks is not fiscal responsibility — it is a direct assault on our nation’s health care system. As written, this bill does nothing to improve health care or access to services for Americans and will instead leave tens of millions without any coverage at all. We call on Congress to protect Medicaid and preserve the critical services that essential hospitals provide to millions each year. America’s Essential Hospitals stands ready to work with policymakers to find sustainable solutions that strengthen our health care system.”
Medical group leaders share survey results around Medicaid challenges
Leaders at the Alexandria, Va.-based American Medical Group Association (AMGA) expressed “strong opposition to the more than $700 billion in Medicaid cuts included in pending House legislation,” in a May 13 press release. “Spending cuts of that magnitude would force AMGA members into an untenable situation, necessitating elimination of services for Medicaid patients, layoffs, and facility closures,” the association stated, adding that “The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s budget reconciliation legislation would cut $715 billion from the Medicaid program—making it the largest cut in its history—and result in at least 8.6 million more uninsured Americans by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“This plan represents an unprecedented rollback of federal support for Medicaid,” said Jerry Penso, M.D., MBA, AMGA’s president and CEO said. “Cuts of this size to Medicaid will reverberate throughout the healthcare system. If patients cannot access care through clinics or their primary care doctors, they’ll turn to our already overcrowded and stressed emergency departments. Every patient in the country, Medicaid patient or not, will be negatively impacted by this bill.”
Meanwhile, leaders at NAACOS, the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of ACOs, which represents the interests of providers participating in accountable care organizations nationwide, released a statement on Monday attributed to Emily Brower, the association’s CEO. “While we appreciate that the Energy and Commerce reconciliation text acknowledges the importance of addressing inflation in physician payment updates, we are deeply concerned that this progress comes at the expense of advancing value-based care,” Brower stated.
“Accountable care keeps Americans healthier by equipping patients and providers with tools to focus on prevention, manage chronic conditions, and access services not traditionally covered by Medicare,” Brower emphasized. “These models have consistently demonstrated better outcomes and lower overall costs. With the passage of MACRA, Congress affirmed accountable care as the future of our healthcare system—providing critical incentives to support the upfront and ongoing investments required to bear risk for the cost and quality of care for a population.”
And, she added, “Unfortunately, the proposed physician payment updates would eliminate these essential incentives. We should not be forced to choose between fair physician reimbursement and continued progress toward a more effective, patient-centered healthcare system. We strongly urge Congress to preserve and strengthen support for advanced risk arrangements as a core component of any physician payment reform strategy—ensuring that accountable care remains central to our path forward.”
Advocates for those with intellectual disabilities speak out
Meanwhile, leaders at The Arc of the United States, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), expressed extreme concern. “People with disabilities will suffer if these proposals become law,” said Katy Neas, The Arc’s CEO, in a statement posted to the association’s website. “It will mean people with disabilities ending up in emergency rooms instead of getting preventive care. It will mean people being forced to live in institutions or become homeless. It will mean caregivers unable to support their loved ones. It will mean states not having the tools they need to respond to local needs. Medicaid is not just a line item in a budget—it’s lifeline. We will not stop until members of Congress understand the harm these proposals will have on the people with disabilities.”
Another advocacy voice is speaking out as well. On May 13, Jocelyn Frye, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Partnership for Women & Families, whose mission is “to improve the lives of women and families by achieving equality for all women,” stated that “The National Partnership for Women & Families strongly condemns the proposal released by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee to gut Medicaid as part of a broader reconciliation package to fund tax cuts for billion dollar corporations and the ultra wealthy,” Frye stated. “Medicaid currently provides essential health coverage to more than 72 million Americans, including providing health coverage to 24 million women and almost half of all children in the United States. This bill, introduced by Congressional Republican leaders, would slash $715 billion from Medicaid by 2035, the largest cut to Medicaid in history. A cut of this magnitude is irresponsible and will have disastrous consequences for the health and well-being of families across the country.”
What’s more, Frye said in the statement, “This devastating legislation would upend the Affordable Care Act marketplaces as sources of health care for millions, taking away health insurance coverage for millions of people and shifting unbearable costs to cash-strapped states. The bill also proposes to defund Planned Parenthood, ban federal funding for gender-affirming care for youth, mandate federal work requirements for Medicaid recipients, require more frequent Medicaid eligibility checks, punish states that use their own funds to cover people regardless of their immigration status, limit retroactive Medicaid coverage, among other cuts to marketplace coverage and nursing home care.”
And, she added, “Congressional Republican leaders’ efforts to deny and obscure how these proposals will work and who will be impacted are wholly unpersuasive and disingenuous. The cold reality is that this bill will eviscerate the health and economic security for an estimated 13.7 million people who are projected to lose health care coverage if it is enacted. Many of these individuals would include the people most in need of health care – those living on the economic margins trying to meet the care needs of their families, including women with low-incomes, women of color, women with disabilities, immigrant women, aging women and their caregivers. Legislation designed to put more dollars into the pockets of the wealthiest people in our country, if not the world, by taking away health care from Americans with the fewest economic resources is wrong and unacceptable. As this bill goes to a floor vote, we urge lawmakers to reject these cuts and work together to protect the millions of people who rely on Medicaid for their health care.”
