Pa. Dems warn GOP's proposed Medicaid cuts will 'cost lives'

Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid, the federal program that provides health coverage to poor Americans, could leave hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians without health insurance and force rural hospitals and medical centers that cater to vulnerable communities to shut their doors, Democratic officials warned Tuesday.

They urged people to call on their U.S. senators to oppose the federal spending plan that President Donald Trump has pitched as a “big beautiful bill.”

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, said the proposal would leave local cancer patients without access to chemotherapy, strip low-income children of speech therapy services and force seniors to choose between paying for prescriptions or rent.

“Cutting it will literally cost lives,” Lee said of Medicaid.

The office of state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View said Medicaid cuts could leave 570,000 Pennsylvanians without access to health insurance.

The federal budget also could remove a tax credit that makes insurance plans affordable through the state-run market place, Pennie. Such a move would increase the cost of an average plan by 82%, Williams’s office said.

The White House defended the president’s agenda.

“President Trump pledged to protect and preserve Medicaid, and that’s exactly what The One, Big, Beautiful (bill) accomplishes by kicking illegal immigrants off the program, implementing commonsense work requirements, and enforcing basic eligibility verification to combat fraud,” Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.

Desai claimed the president’s plan would cut premium costs by 12%.

On Tuesday, officials in Pittsburgh painted a different picture, warning that low-income, disabled, young and old residents could be left struggling to afford basic health care if the bill is passed.

They spoke in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood at a press conference at the East Liberty Family Health Care Center, which receives federal funds and provides medical, dental and other services to low-income, uninsured and underinsured people.

The center’s CEO, Arsenial Runion, said such federally qualified health centers could shut down amid Medicaid cuts. More than 30% of the patients the care center serves each year on are Medicaid, he told reporters.

“Right now, we are truly under attack,” he said.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said everyone knows someone who relies on Medicaid.

“It ensures that a child with developmental issues can receive early intervention, somebody with cancer can get their treatment, somebody with diabetes can be taken care of,” Gainey said.

Williams said she’s heard from constituents who rely on Medicaid to receive in-home care so they don’t have to relinquish their freedoms by moving into an assisted care facility and parents who are grateful that Medicaid provides essential health care for their children.

“We’re all just one trip and fall, one car accident, one health emergency away from needing those services ourselves,” Williams said.

In Allegheny County, nearly one in five residents rely on Medicaid, including 39% of the county’s children, said Alex Jutca, who heads the Allegheny County Department of Human Services Office of Analytics, Technology and Planning.

Proposed cuts, he said, would force the department to “triage needs,” increase administrative costs because of additional work requirements and create gaps in mental health care services.

“Medicaid isn’t just a budget line,” Jutca said. “It’s a lifeline.”