Interested Parties Memo: Speaker McCarthy’s attacks on Medicaid will harm millions

April 17th, 2023

Category:

TO: Interested Parties 

FROM: Caring Across Generations

DATE: April 17, 2023

Speaker McCarthy’s attacks on Medicaid will harm millions

As your newsroom prepares to cover Speaker McCarthy’s speech this morning to Wall Street regarding the debt limit, please consider the below information that outlines how his proposals will harm millions of Americans. 

Speaker McCarthy’s proposal of failed policy changes – including work requirements, likely in both Medicaid and SNAP – would:

• Mean that people who are in poor health or who have a disability could lose their health care.
• Hurt older people ages 50 to 65, including those with disabilities, for whom there are few job opportunities.

No matter what Speaker McCarthy says, here is what you need to know about the importance of protecting Medicaid from any cuts and policy changes:

Medicaid is an essential program that 88 million Americans rely on for their health care, including 54 million seniors, children, and people with disabilities. 

• Agreement is widespread across party lines, with 93% of Democrats, 88% of Independents, and 74% of Republicans placing a higher priority on protecting Medicaid from cuts.

Speaker McCarthy is proposing taking life-sustaining programs away from people who do not meet his bureaucratic work requirements. 

• The Republican plan to take Medicaid away from people who do not meet new work requirements would:
  • Mean that people who are in poor health or who have a disability could lose their health care; and
  • Hurt older people ages 50 to 65, including those with disabilities, for whom there are few job opportunities.
• By 58% to 42%, voters oppose a proposal that would take Medicaid away from people who do not meet work requirements.

Work requirements don’t work.

• A work requirement policy imposed by the state of Arkansas in 2018 on Medicaid participants, which Speaker McCarthy’s proposal mirrors, failed to achieve its stated goal of boosting employment, according to research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Instead, the policy harmed health care coverage and access, the study found.
  • The researchers found that people who lost their coverage experienced adverse consequences and economic hardship. 
  • The study showed that 50% reported serious problems paying off medical debt, 56% delayed care because of cost, and 64% delayed taking medications because of cost.

Millions of Americans are already struggling to make ends meet. Instead of using the day before Tax Day to call on the ultra-rich and profitable corporations to pay their fair share, McCarthy’s plan prioritizes taking care away from everyday people.

• Even when very large cuts to Medicaid are identified as a GOP proposal, a solid majority of Republican voters are opposed; and there is widespread agreement (83%) with making wealthy corporations pay their fair share instead of cutting Medicaid.
  • Democrats are most supportive with making wealthy corporations pay their fair share instead of cutting Medicaid (97% support) and most Independents favor it (85% support), but a solid majority of Republicans support it as well (69% support).

You can find more information on voters’ opinions on the importance of protecting Medicaid in the polling results from Hart Research on behalf of Caring Across Generations.