ICYMI: Republicans Fully Support Dramatic Medicaid Cuts

Hundreds of millions of Americans rely on Medicaid for access to critical medical care, including those in rural areas of the country, children, and older Americans. 

Today, Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) and members Chip Roy (R-TX) and Eric Burlison (R-MO) openly called on their fellow Republicans to support broad cuts to Medicaid—making it clear Republican lawmakers are no longer pretending to protect the program. 

Hundreds of millions of Americans rely on Medicaid for access to critical medical care, including those in rural areas of the country, children, and older Americans. 

Per POLITICO: 

In an op-ed for Fox News on Monday, Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris and members Chip Roy and Eric Burlison argued they aren’t calling for massive cuts to the safety-net health insurance program, but rather reforms that would “reverse its explosive expansion” that has left Medicaid “unsustainable,’ …

“‘For lawmakers who claim to be on board with cutting the waste, fraud and abuse — and delivering on Trump’s historic mandate — this is it,’ the members wrote. ‘Nothing you do in the next two years will come close to the importance of implementing the $880 billion required in savings to programs under the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction.’”

Despite their enthusiasm for cutting healthcare, the members didn’t focus on how important Medicaid is in their own districts. In 2023: 

• 43,200 people relied on Medicaid or CHIP health coverage in Rep. Roy’s district;
• 107,600 people relied on Medicaid or CHIP health coverage in Rep. Harris’ district; and
• 133,300 people relied on Medicaid or CHIP health coverage in Burlison’s district.