Actions

What are the impacts of potential Medicaid cuts?

Medicaid covers medical costs for about 80 million low-income Americans.
Medicaid Employer Help
Posted
and last updated

House Republicans are moving forward with a bill that calls for $880 billion in spending cuts.

President Donald Trump has ruled out cutting funding to Medicare and Social Security, leading many Democrats to believe that Medicaid could be impacted.

Medicaid covers medical costs for about 80 million low-income Americans.

Avenel Joseph, interim executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an organization that advocates for health equity, warns that cuts to Medicaid could have severe consequences.

"Gutting a program, as has been proposed, would be the difference between life and death for many of those Medicaid recipients," Joseph told Scripps News.

RELATED STORY | House passes its budget plan, pushing multi-trillion-dollar spending bill closer to law

Republicans have said that their goal is to eliminate wasteful spending. Joseph says there are some inefficiencies within the bureaucratic aspect of the program, but contends the health care aspect of the program is "incredibly efficient."

She also warns that cuts to Medicaid could impact those who have private health insurance.

"As you have more uninsured Americans who are getting care that is uncompensated in the system, that system then passes on those costs to people who can pay," Joseph said.

Watch more of Joseph's interview with Scripps News in the video above.

,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Friday

02/28/2025

Partly Cloudy

75° / 54°

0%

Saturday

03/01/2025

Partly Cloudy

79° / 51°

1%

Sunday

03/02/2025

Rain

60° / 46°

82%

Monday

03/03/2025

AM Showers

58° / 45°

44%

Tuesday

03/04/2025

Partly Cloudy

65° / 48°

6%

Wednesday

03/05/2025

Showers

60° / 45°

54%

Thursday

03/06/2025

Partly Cloudy

60° / 43°

24%

Friday

03/07/2025

Sunny

65° / 43°

13%