Democrats, advocates in Harrisburg urge Republicans to oppose Medicaid cuts

• By Jaxon White/LNP | LancasterOnline

Democratic state lawmakers met on the Capitol steps Monday morning to urge Republicans to oppose the cuts to taxes and spending being pushed by their counterparts in Washington, specifically plans to cut Medicaid to help pay for tax breaks.

Led by Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, of Allegheny County, and House Speaker Joanna McClinton, of Philadelphia, the legislators warned that Pennsylvania would not be able to replace the proposed Medicaid cuts, resulting in hundreds of thousands of state residents losing health care coverage.

“They (Republicans) don’t want to talk about this massive negative impact it’s going to have on the quality of life of so many Pennsylvanians,” Costa said.

McClinton said the Medicaid cuts — part of a more than 1,000-page budget bill pushed by President Donald Trump — would impact “every corner of the Commonwealth,” costing coverage for expecting mothers, senior citizens, adults with disabilities and people who live in nursing homes.

Pennsylvania stands to see about a $32 billion decrease in Medicaid spending by 2034 under the bill, according to California-based health research group KFF, which could cause a drop in enrollment of about 445,000 people.

Jason Thompson, a spokesman for Senate Appropriations Chair Scott Martin, of Martic Township, said in a statement that Democrats were “fearmongering” over Medicaid.

“We need to deal in facts, not fiction,” Thompson said. “To date, the federal government has not made cuts to Medicaid, and none of the Medicaid reforms passed at the federal level would require Pennsylvania taxpayers to backfill funding.”

Democrats have sounded the alarm over the federal bill, which the Congressional Budget Office predicts could raise the number of uninsured nationwide by 7.6 million people by 2034. Republicans narrowly passed the legislation through the House on May 22. Every Republican congressman from Pennsylvania voted in its favor, while every Democrat opposed.

State Sen. Vincent Hughes, the Democrats’ ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, specifically called on U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick to oppose the bill now that the legislation is in their chamber. During a Fox News forum Monday morning, the pair said they are split on the issue.

Fetterman, a Democrat, said he’d oppose the bill due to its Medicaid cuts. McCormick, a first-term Republican, said he supports the spending cuts in the bill, which are intended to offset some of the GOP’s planned tax cuts.

‘It’s about people’s lives’

An hour after the Democrats left from the Capitol steps, a group of several dozen disability advocates — many carrying “Medicaid Matters” signs — gathered in the building’s Main Rotunda.

Francine Hogan, director of Vision for Equality, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit advocating for intellectual disability rights, said her son, Michael, uses Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services.

“He is loving our community. He volunteers at a local community theater. He works part-time. He has a life just like other peers his age,” Hogan said. “Without those services, none of that would be true for him. He would be an individual that was at risk for institutionalization.”

Hogan said Medicaid supports about 3 million Pennsylvanians, with about 1 in 9 jobs being tied to the health care sector backed by Medicaid. She added that the proposed federal cuts could cost some 42,000 jobs, including 22,000 health care positions.

“We’re talking about real people — sons, daughters, neighbors,” Hogan said. “We risk losing the supports that make daily life possible. This is not just about dollars, it’s about people’s lives.”