When Congress passes a new budget, it could include large cuts to Medicaid and other programs that help Americans in need. Supporters of the cuts argue that they will save people money, but is it possible that they might have the opposite effect?
Jan Moller, executive director of Invest in Louisiana, joined WWL’s Tommy Tucker this week to discuss the potential impacts of Medicaid cuts included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” currently working its way through Congress.
“The budget resolution, which is kind of the, the, the governing document… calls for $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade,” he said. According to Moller, those cuts will likely happen, and he expects them to have an impact in all 50 states, which share Medicaid costs with the federal government.
For example, Moller said that Louisiana will have to decide whether to raise taxes at the state level to account for federal Medicaid cuts or cut Medicaid funding. He said the latter scenario is more likely.
“So, people would just lose their health coverage,” Moller said. “You could cut the kind of services you offer so people might not get pharma coverage, or there might be just things that Medicaid coverage… that they won’t get, or you reduce the reimbursement rates that you pay to doctors and hospitals and clinics who see Medicaid patients. And that’s almost impossible to do because Medicaid already pays very low rates compared to private insurance.”
Even though people are expected to lose coverage, they’re not expected to stop needing healthcare.
“You’re not going to reduce illness,” Moller explained. “What you’re going to do, is you’re going to have patients still show up at the hospital only this time they’re not going to have insurance. So, if they get treated, you know, the hospital still has to treat them. The hospital has to eat that cost.”
In fact, he said that hospitals and healthcare providers are going to get hit the hardest by any Medicaid cuts. That could include hospital closures, especially in rural areas, he added.
“I think what you’re going to end up seeing is a population that is sicker and poorer and you’re going to see the healthcare industry, hospitals, doctors, pharmacies start to struggle financially,” Moller told Tucker.
Per the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis published last November, the health care industry was the largest employment sector in the U.S. as of 2023. At the time, it employed over 17 million people.
“You’re also going to see patients who right now maybe need some medication to be able to go to work. You know, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health care secretary, talks a lot about chronic disease. The way we manage chronic disease is through medicine. And so, asthma medication, heart medication, insulin to control diabetes... a lot of these things cost money, and if you’re on Medicaid right now, you’re getting it through that program, a lot of people aren’t going to be able to afford to keep the medicines that allow them to go to work and stay in the workplace.”
Moller noted that work requirements are also expected to be part of the new legislation. He doesn’t think that is a great idea for two reasons. First, Moller said the majority of people on Medicaid do work, live with a family with work, have a disability or are in school or job training. Second, he said that work requirements just create more paperwork and discourage some people who are eligible for Medicaid from applying due to the time it takes to fill out that paperwork.
President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that the Republican party – which holds majorities in the House and the Senate – is “unified” around passing the spending bill. He touted “tremendous tax cuts” as well as cuts to “all these regulations that are so horrible.”
A press release from the White House said that the bill includes “the largest tax cut in American history” including Trump’s “no tax on tips” proposal. Regarding Medicaid specifically, the release said that “1.4 million illegals” would be removed from the program and that gender transition procedures for minors would be prohibited.
As Moller pointed out, the bill is still has a long way to go in Congress. A notice indicates the House Committee on Rules will meet Wednesday to discuss the legislation.
“It has to go through the rest of the house and, and then it has to through the Senate,” Moller said.
If it does go through, he expects it to negatively impact the financial situation of Americans who rely on Medicaid, many of whom are children already living in low-income households.
“It really does not make economic sense to take healthcare away from people who have no other way to afford that healthcare except through Medicaid,” he said.