Minnesota Governor Walz joining health care providers Tuesday expressing deep concern over the possibility of plans to cut federal funds to the Medicaid program.
Changes currently being proposed to congress could mean an annual loss of about $1.6 billion in federal funds to Minnesota.
Walz says the fallout from a decision like that could be dramatic.
"It's about $1.5 billion a year, and it's about a quarter of a million Minnesotans out of 5.8 million that will be instantly impacted and go to zero," Walz explained.
Caretaker Darrin Kovar says for children who rely on it Medicaid is a lifeline.
"If a child doesn't get the help they need, the impact is a ripple effect that reaches far and wide, and at a much higher cost," says Kovar.
More than one in five Minnesotans rely on Medicaid and the program pays for just over half of all long term services provided in the state.
"My doctors found out that I had a congenital heart defect and my life was saved because I had access to health care," says Medicaid recipient Linda Fess. "Otherwise I wonder if I would have thought, you know, maybe this is just a cold and I would have kept going and going and something drastic could have happened. So I feel very strongly about this. Everyone needs access to health care."
Fess added that the loss of funds would also impact health insurance coverage for 600,000 children in Minnesota.
As the U.S. House prepares to vote on a sweeping budget blueprint that was approved by the U.S. Senate last week, sizable cuts to Medicaid are one step closer -- and just who would bear the brunt of those cuts is coming into better focus.
The budget reconciliation bill itself does not mandate any cuts to Medicaid, the government health program for low-income Americans. It is called Medical Assistance in Minnesota.
Conservatives in the House gave the budget plan the final votes needed for passage last Thursday after they said they received assurances from leadership in both chambers that they would work to have a final product with at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts — forcing changes to federal programs including Medicaid that could prove hard for some in the party to support.
Some Republicans made clear to GOP leadership before Thursday's budget vote that they will be closely monitoring the changes to Medicaid in the final bill.
Republicans say their focus is on instilling work requirements for able-bodied beneficiaries and more rigorous eligibility assessments. But Democrats say Republicans can't generate the savings being discussed without also cutting benefits.