Health Justice Newsletter
May 2025
Now a collaborative of activists from
Marin and Sonoma Counties!
The Republicans’ Choice:
Tax Cuts for the Rich
or Healthcare for Americans
an excerpt from a NY Times column by Aaron E. Carroll,
President of the health policy organization AcademyHealth "The president has promised to extend the 2017 tax cuts (nearly half of which will go to the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans) at a hefty cost of $4 trillion over the next decade, but many Republicans are reluctant to add to the federal deficit.
How do they square the math? It appears they are prepared to do so at the expense of the poor and middle class, by yanking health care coverage from children, new mothers, people with disabilities and seniors. Republican leaders in Congress have suggested that one option they are considering to bankroll their tax breaks would be to cut hundreds of billions from Medicaid; another proposal would roll back subsidies that have helped middle-class families pay Affordable Care Act premiums.
It’s hard to overstate how catastrophic the proposed cuts would be.
Medicaid alone covers more than 40 percent of births in the United States. Far from being a handout, it is one of the most cost-effective insurance programs in the country, meaning there is very little fat to cut without immediately harming people. It’s because of Medicaid that children, seniors and people with disabilities — groups that make up more than 75 percent of the program’s spending — can see doctors and fill prescriptions without going bankrupt.
In their menu of options, House Republicans propose adding work requirements to Medicaid, which would cut benefits to some recipients and, they claim, save billions. Proponents of work requirements argue that such measures incentivize employment, but the evidence overwhelmingly shows that they don’t. This is because nearly every adult in Medicaid who can work already does, or is a student, disabled or a caretaker for someone else. Instead, people lose access to care because of bureaucratic red tape and difficulty proving they qualify.
Work requirements bloat the bureaucracy and result in worse care for fewer people.
Republicans are also considering distributing a set amount of money to states, regardless of what care actually costs. But states are already struggling with tight budgets. They don’t have hidden, untapped solutions to magically fund health care. With less money, they must refuse coverage to more people or pay providers even less, which means fewer doctors will see Medicaid patients, which reduces access for everyone. Twelve states have trigger laws on the books that might end Medicaid expansion programs or severely cut them if the federal government reduces funding.
With Republicans holding only a razor-thin majority in the House, it would take just a handful of them to block this plan — and protect the very people who entrusted them with their votes. After all, the political long game is questionable. Cuts to Medicaid would cripple the rural hospitals and patients represented by the congressional Republicans who would need to pass this plan. Republican politicians increasingly claim to champion working-class families, especially as more of these voters lean to the right. Yet shuttering a local hospital to finance tax cuts for top earners would be the ultimate betrayal of those very constituents. Recall that Republicans’ last effort to rescind health care coverage by repealing Medicaid expansion along with the Affordable Care Act in 2017 likely contributed to their loss of the House majority the following year.
I’ll be the first to admit that the U.S. health care system has serious problems — sky-high costs and poor outcomes. The way to fix those problems isn’t by targeting the most vulnerable.
Let’s shift the conversation away from stripping benefits and toward addressing what really drives up costs, according to years of research:
(corporate profits), high prices and bloated administration.
Gutting Medicaid, or making it impossible for middle-class Americans to afford A.C.A. exchange plans, is callous. No parent should choose between taking a child to the emergency room and paying the grocery bill."
The Liberal Redneck
On Gutting Medicaid and Food Stamps
to Cover More Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
An 8 min YouTube video worth watching:
Medicaid cuts would kill tens of thousands
One estimate puts the true cost of Medicaid cuts at an
unconscionable 50,000 premature deaths per year.
1st
Fight to stop the deadly cuts.
This is a winnable fight.
Republicans have a razor-thin margin in the House of Representatives, and members in swing districts are nervous about voting for a bill that would strip health benefits from millions of Americans, lead to hospital closures and cutbacks, and wreak havoc on state budgets across the country.
contact your representatives
2nd
Work hard to get real healthcare reform:
Guaranteed, universal healthcare
with no financial barriers to that care.
But how?
By joining with us!
The May meeting of the
Healthcare for All Working Group and Healthcare
for All CA-Marin
is on Monday, May 12 @ 6:30 on Zoom
Note the new time to allow more time for people's dinner Zoom link to our meeting
We hope you will join us.
of the public say they want to see Medicaid funding
decreased. Larger shares say funding for Medicaid
should increase (42%) or stay about the same
(40%).
of the public says that Medicaid is very important
to their communities. This includes majorities of
Republican, independents and Democrats, and
those in rural areas.
of the public say that they themselves or a family
member has ever been covered by Medicaid. The
share is similar among those who live in rural
areas (54%).
of the public is aware that most working-age adults
with Medicaid coverage are working. Most (62%)
incorrectly. says that most in this group are
unemployed.
No more squeezing working people,
the poor and the disabled!
We need to tax the rich.
“When we say ‘tax the rich,’
we mean:
⁃ Nesting-doll yacht rich.
⁃ For-profit prison rich.
⁃ Student-loan-shark rich.
⁃ Trick-the-country-into-war rich.
⁃ Subsidizing-workforce-w-food-stamps rich.
Because that kind of rich is simply not good for society” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Healthcare for All Working Group of Sonoma County
and Healthcare for All California-Marin
Contact Us
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