Days after Congress narrowly approved a budget resolution that could tee up major Medicaid funding cuts, Democrats from southwestern Pennsylvania joined disability-rights advocates in Pittsburgh to rally against the plan.
“House Republicans … targeted $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, who represents parts of Allegheny and Butler counties. “They would pillage our government. They would take away health care to funnel money to the richest people who’ve ever walked planet Earth.”
The budget resolution serves as a blueprint and does not spell out specific program cuts. But it does call for an $880 billion spending reduction by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees such programs as Medicaid, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s unclear how such a reduction could be made without touching the insurance programs.
The resolution calls for $2 trillion in federal spending cuts overall in the next 10 years. It also lays the groundwork for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts during the same period. The resolution lays the framework for President Donald Trump’s agenda to bring down the budget deficit while adding $100 billion in defense spending and extending tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term.
Democrats argue the plan could devastate social service programs and fail to put money back into the pockets of the working class.
“Republicans are looking for the fastest route to implement the cruelest policies,” said U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, who represents much of Allegheny County, including Pittsburgh. “They are stealing from you, the American people. And you want to know why? So that billionaires can get a tax cut.”
Within Deluzio and Lee’s districts, nearly 298,000 people rely on Medicaid to cover health costs, nursing homes and assisted living programs. Medicaid provides free or low-cost health insurance to low-income adults, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities, as well as some elderly adults who qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare.
More than 3 million people in Pennsylvania are currently covered under the Medicaid program.
Deluzio and Lee were joined by Pennsylvania state lawmakers including Reps. Dan Miller, Dan Frankel and John Inglis, as well as state Sens. Lindsey Williams and Nick Pisciottano. Also in attendance was Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor and County Councilor Dan Grzybek.
State officials painted a grim picture of the future of Medicaid in Pennsylvania should the federal cuts come to pass. Miller, who represents southeastern Pittsburgh suburbs in Harrisburg, warned that the Commonwealth would not be able to fund the program on its own. And if millions of people are cut off from access to doctors, medications and services, it could also lead to rural hospital closures and job losses, he said.
“Cuts to Medicaid will cause a humanitarian crisis in Pennsylvania,” he said.
Rep. Dan Frankel, who represents Pittsburgh’s eastern neighborhoods, called the cuts a matter of “life and death.”
Dozens of disability-rights advocates gathered under the portico of the Pittsburgh City-County building to cheer on the speakers, including Josie Badger, the director of the National Resources for Access, Independence, Self-determination and Employment, as well as Erin Gabriel, the government affairs representative for the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.
Badger, who was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and uses a motorized chair, said reducing Medicaid funding could take away the chance for people with disabilities to live an independent and happy life.
“This country was based on the idea that all should have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” she said. “But what happens when that pursuit is reliant on Medicaid?”
Gabriel is a mother of three children with disabilities, including her daughter Abby, 15, who is deaf-blind and autistic. She said Medicaid coverage made it possible for Abby to access early intervention screenings and community-based care that helped her learn to navigate the world, with speech, vision and hearing therapy as well as physical therapy and other care.
“Abby is in so many ways a story of everything that can go right with the system,” she said. “But without Medicaid, we don't know if … she will be able to access the care that she needs to be able to keep living at home with her family.”
The narrow passage in the House is the first step in a long process for the budget resolution. It next heads for the Senate.
“Senate Republicans have to hear from us,” Deluzio said, encouraging the crowd to continue calling House and Senate Republicans to express their concerns.
Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, who had been listed as a featured speaker for the event, did not attend. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
And Democrats repeatedly invoked the name of Pennsylvania’s other U.S. Senator, Republican Dave McCormick.
As Deluzio called on those present to make their voices heard by calling their senators and congressional representatives, a voice from the crowd of dozens of supporters shouted, “Where’s McCormick?”
“We should find out,” Deluzio said.
McCormick did not respond to a request for comment.
