For patients, parents and caregivers, proposed Medicaid cuts are a personal affront

For patients, parents and caregivers, proposed Medicaid cuts are a personal affront

Cynthia Williams is angry with U.S. House Republicans who are poised to cut Medicaid, the government-run insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities.

The 61-year-old Anaheim resident cares for her adult daughter, who is blind, and her sister, a military veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses. Medi-Cal, the state's version of Medicaid, pays to care for Williams, and she relies on that income, just as her sister and daughter depend on her.

"Let's be real. We shouldn't be here tonight," Williams said to a raucous crowd of over 200 people at a recent town hall. "We should be at home and spending time with our loved ones and our families, but we are here. And we are here to fight, because when politicians try to take away our health care, we don't have the option to sit back and let it happen."

The House last week approved a Republican budget plan that could trim Medicaid spending by $880 billion over 10 years, only partially paying for an extension of expiring tax cuts from President Donald Trump's first term as well as some new ones he has promised, totaling $4.5 trillion.

A spending cut of this magnitude would have a huge impact in California, with nearly 15 million people—more than a third of the population—on Medi-Cal. Over 60% of Medi-Cal's $161 billion budget comes from Washington.

Williams was among about a dozen providers, patients, people with disabilities and family members who one by one stood to tell their stories. Rep. Young Kim, a Republican whose district includes this relatively wealthy Orange County city, declined an invitation for her or a staffer to attend. But her voters told her and other Republicans in Congress loud and clear: Hands off Medicaid.

Josephine Rios, a certified nursing assistant at a Kaiser Permanente Surgical Center in Irvine, said her 7-year-old grandson Elijah received essential treatments through Medi-Cal, including a $5,000 monthly medication that controls his seizures, which can be life-threatening. Elijah, who has cerebral palsy, is among the more than 50% of California children covered by Medi-Cal.

"To cut Medicaid, Medi-Cal, that's like saying he can't live. He can't thrive. He'll lie in bed and do nothing," Rios said. “Who are they to judge who is alive and who is not?”

Two-thirds of Californians oppose Medi-Cal along party lines, according to a new poll from the California Health Care Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago.

The town hall here was one of three organized late last month by Fight for Our Health, a coalition of groups and unions targeting Republican House members whose California districts are considered politically competitive. The other two were in Bakersfield, part of which is represented by Rep. David Valadao, and Corona, where Rep. Ken Calvert was. Several other town halls and protests have sprung up across the country in recent weeks.

The coalition has repeated a campaign — part of a broader national movement — that fought the GOP's unsuccessful 2017 effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans' loss of House control in the 2018 midterm elections was widely attributed to their stance on health care. Valadao was among the GOP members who lost their seats in 2018, although he resigned two years later.

Still, he voted for the budget proposal last week despite about two-thirds of the population in his district being on Medicaid - the highest in the state - and despite being one of eight GOP House members who sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson warning of the "serious consequences" of deep cuts to Medicaid. Valada's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Calvert, who has been in the House for 32 years and was up for re-election last November, voted for the budget, as did Kim. All nine GOP members of California's congressional delegation supported it, as did all but one of the House Republicans.

Critics of the budget say it helps the rich at the expense of the most vulnerable society - an argument that was vigorously repeated at the Tustin City Hall. But supporters of the plan say extending the tax cuts, key provisions of which are set to expire after the end of this year, would avoid a big tax hike on average Americans and would benefit low-income families the most.

“American families face a massive tax increase unless Congress acts by the end of the year,” Calvert said in a statement to KFF Health News before the vote. He vowed the GOP wouldn't touch Social Security or Medicare. He did not offer similar assurances to Medicaid, but said: "We are not interested in cutting the safety net of social and medical care for children, the disabled and low-income Americans. We are focused on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse."

The Greenlit document last Tuesday does not provide details on the spending cuts, although it directs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid and Medicare spending, to cut $880 billion - a large portion of the total cuts of up to $2 trillion. The GOP's razor-thin majority means Johnson will have a narrow path to getting a more detailed budget. Republican support, whether from fiscal hawks seeking deeper spending cuts or House members concerned about Medicaid obfuscation, could ebb and flow after the hash-hash-hash-hash hash.

Additionally, the House must reach a compromise with the Senate, which has passed a much narrower budget resolution that makes up the big tax cuts for now.

Like Kim, Valadao and Calvert declined invitations to visit employees in their regions or to send them to town hall meetings. At the Tustin meeting, several speakers chided Kim for her absence. At one point, the large screen behind the podium flashed an image of an empty chair with the words in large block letters, "Congresswoman Kim, we saved you a seat."

Kim spokesman Callie Strock said in an email that Kim and her local staff had pre-existing commitments that night. She added that Kim is “committed to protecting and strengthening our health care system.”

But those present were clearly worried.

“It is a moral obligation for all of us to look at the most disadvantaged people in our country and take good care of them,” said Beth Martinko, whose 33-year-old son Josh has autism and relies on Medi-Cal for his care. “This has no place in politics.”

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

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