Assistant Leader Neguse, House Democrats Host Hearing on Fight to Save Medicaid
Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse (CO-02) joined fellow members of Democratic Leadership for a Steering & Policy Committee hearing on saving Medicaid. The lawmakers were joined by panelists with expertise on the subject matter, including Kody H. Kinsley, North Carolina’s 18th Secretary of Health and Human Services, and American storytellers Chris Dunham, Christina Otero, and Nancy Hagans. Democrats’ hearing follows House Republicans’ passage of a budget betrayal, which lays the foundation for at least $880 billion in Medicaid cuts, eliminating coverage for nearly 16 million Americans.
According to estimates, the proposed Medicaid cuts would cost Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, which Neguse has represented since 2019, $1.12 billion and eliminate coverage for approximately 89,445 individuals. Across the state of Colorado, Medicaid programs cover 44% of births and ensures care for nearly 40% of children ages 18 and younger.
During the hearing, Assistant Leader Neguse directed his questions to Secretary Kinsley, seeking insight into the disastrous impacts that cuts to Medicaid will have on families, seniors, and America’s most vulnerable individuals. A transcript of their exchange is available below.
NEGUSE: Thank you, Secretary Kinsley, for your leadership and your testimony today. I want to focus my questions on two broader impacts of these Medicaid cuts. If Republicans succeed in imposing a nearly $1 trillion cut to Medicaid, can you help us understand what will that mean for state budgets, like your own? And what options will states have, like North Carolina, for absorbing that large of a cut?
KINSLEY: Well unfortunately there won’t be many options. Medicaid brings $28—at least $28 billion dollars—into the state of North Carolina. Our portion of that is a third. Any cut is going to create billions of dollars of a gap that the state of North Carolina, and I would imagine pretty much every other state, simply can’t cover. And it’s important to remember that 98% of every dollar that comes into North Carolina from Medicaid goes to services and providers. There’s no wiggle room to pull dollars out without people experiencing the harm immediately.
NEGUSE: I share your concern, Secretary Kinsley. I know we all do. And I wonder if you might expand upon that in further detail. So, who might lose benefits? What kind of services may ultimately be curtailed?
KINSLEY: First and foremost, I think of our seniors. Many individuals forget—you know—that as they exhaust their personal resources Medicaid is the only program in the country that will cover skilled nursing facilities for these individuals. When we think about the chronic disease burden in our communities, many folks will end up in that need. We know that major providers that provide nursing home care, rely pretty much exclusively on Medicaid as one of their primary sources. And so, pulling dollars out of the Medicaid program will negatively impact those seniors. I also think in North Carolina, that 50% of births are covered by Medicaid. When we think about the importance of a healthy start to life—
NEGUSE: Can you just repeat that, Secretary Kinsley?
KINSLEY: One out of two —
NEGUSE: One out of two. 50%.
KINSLEY: 50% of births covered by Medicaid. And, and so, making sure that those babies are born healthy with a strongest start in life. In North Carolina, again thanks to Congress, made quick advantage of extending coverage for postpartum women, so that those women could also be healthy. We know healthy families lead to healthy children, and it’s a smart investment.
You can view the complete Democratic Leadership hearing on saving Medicaid HERE.
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