The Cruelty of Medicaid Cuts

What you can do right now (for free) to protect care for tens of millions of people

Nationwide nearly 80 million Americans rely on Medicaid for critical healthcare. It supports newborns and aging adults, disabled people and caregivers, rural communities and urban centers. It ensures that children get their check-ups, that aging adults can age in place, and that disabled people can live with dignity. But right now, that vital lifeline is under attack. And given that last night the House passed this cruel budget cut out of committee, we have even less time to act. Here’s a breakdown of where we are, and what we can do to stop these horrendous cuts from becoming law. Let’s Address This.

Here’s The Current Situation

Congressional Republicans are planning at least $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid. Why? To bankroll what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates as $5.5 trillion dollars in tax breaks for billionaires and the largest corporations. These cuts aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. They represent a catastrophic rollback of care for our most vulnerable. Let’s not mince words. If these cuts happen, people will die.

Part of the strategy to fight back is to ensure people truly understand just how devastating these cuts are, and how these cuts will affect their lives on a daily basis. So, I’ve done my best to synthesize some of the most significant cuts and subsequent harms they will cause.

What These Cuts Will Do

1. Rip healthcare away from millions: The Congressional Republican Bill will rip health care away from nearly 14 million people, with millions of seniors, children, disabled people, and families losing coverage. For low-income families already struggling, this could be the difference between life and death.

2. Devastate rural communities: Medicaid funds many rural hospitals and clinics. Without it, entire regions could lose access to emergency and routine care. Rural hospitals will shut down and doctors will leave rural areas altogether.

3. Destroy care for disabled people: Remember, Americans with disabilities live in every neighborhood in every community in this country, including more than 1 in 4 adults. With Medicaid slashed, at least 7.8 million aging adults and disabled people who rely on Medicaid for home and community-based services that provide things like in-home care, transportation, and personal assistance will be harmed. Cuts mean longer waitlists (already 700,000 people long), deeper isolation, and will leave people without critical support that enable living and aging with dignity

4. Undermine our workforce: Medicaid pays the wages of 4.8 million care workers. Cuts would slash their pay, drive them from the field, potentially take their health care away, and worsen the care crisis. Hospitals and other medical providers would be pushed to close, both losing hundreds of thousands of health care jobs and losing access to care. Businesses of all kinds would likewise suffer because workers who are sick or injured would not be able to get the care they need in a timely manner.

5. Punish caregivers and women: Medicaid supports family caregivers with respite and mental health services in addition to basic healthcare. Without it, more unpaid caregivers will burn out—especially women, who already do the lion’s share of care work.

The Danger Goes Beyond Cuts

One of the most dangerous ideas on the table is so-called “work requirements.” These bureaucratic hurdles would force people to prove they’re working to receive care—even if they’re already employed, disabled, in school, or caregiving. This would lead to millions of people losing coverage because of confusing paperwork and red tape—not because they’re ineligible. Republicans already tried this in Arkansas as recently as 2018. In that failed experiment, 18,000 eligible people lost coverage and the state saw no increase in employment.

Work requirements don’t help people work—but Medicaid does. It provides the stability and services people need to stay healthy enough to work, study, and care for loved ones.

A Moral and Economic Catastrophe

Medicaid is not a handout. It’s an investment in human dignity. It keeps people in their homes. It supports small businesses by covering workers. It saves money by preventing costly ER visits. And it’s popular—more than 3 in 4 voters support it, and bipartisan majorities oppose cuts.

If Congress succeeds in gutting Medicaid, the consequences will ripple through every facet of American life. Hospitals will close. Care workers will vanish. Families will go bankrupt from medical debt. People’s lives will be at risk. Denying care doesn’t just hurt—it can kill. We cannot let that happen.

What You Can Do

We don’t have to accept this. We are not helpless. We have the power to fight back:

1. Call Your Member of Congress: Dial 866-426-2631 and demand they oppose Medicaid cuts. Share your story.

2. Email Your Lawmaker: Use this easy tool: caring.nu/protect-medicaid-2025. Tell them care matters more than tax breaks for billionaires.

3. Share Your Story: On social media, with your local press, or at town halls. Let your community and lawmakers know what Medicaid means to you.

4. Build Community: I am doing my best to raise awareness at every opportunity. Subscribe below to stay up to date on the latest developments and calls to action.

This isn’t about party lines. This is not about left vs right. It’s about our shared humanity. Whether you're a disabled person, parent, caregiver, worker, or someone who just believes in justice—this fight is yours.

Congress may have power, but we have people. Let’s remind them who they work for.