"The only way you get the $880 billion that they are going to take out of the system is through Medicaid. They've written it down. They voted on it. They're pursuing it, and they are doing it with the full blessing of the Trump administration," Clark continued.

Clark joined health officials and caregivers as part of Democrats' nationwide day of action to amplify their calls against a developing Republican reconciliation bill that they say will cut billions in Medicaid funding nationwide. The budget reconciliation process allows for expedited consideration of certain federal spending legislation. While the House Republican budget proposal doesn't name Medicaid within its language, it directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find ways to cut at least $880 billion in spending over the next decade.

Democrats allege the federal government cannot execute cuts of that magnitude without cutting Medicaid funding, a conclusion that Congressman Richard Neal says the Congressional Budget Office has reached.

“Let’s not forget the role Medicaid plays in reimbursements and what that means for hospitals in our region,” Congressman Richard Neal said in a statement Tuesday as part of a visit with local officials in Easthampton.  "Whether it be Baystate, Harrington, Holyoke, Mercy, or North Adams, the public payer mix sustains our hospitals and, as a result, countless jobs throughout western Massachusetts.”

The cuts could hit "safety net" organizations like Cambridge Health Alliance, especially hard, with over 50% of CHA patients covered by Medicaid, CHA Executive Director Assaad Sayah said Tuesday. Patients and CHA officials shared stories of how Medicaid has positively impacted their family members and care experiences.

Clark's address about Medicaid comes at a time the national Democratic Party is facing a split, after a number of U.S. Senate Democrats, led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, supported a Republican bill on Friday to avert a government shutdown. Many congressional Democrats have expressed feeling betrayed by their colleagues for supporting a bill they say enables the Trump administration's agenda. Clark called the situation "a disagreement about where we are, and in looking at the the spending plan that was put forward by the GOP."

"But you're not going to find a single Democrat in Congress who thinks that these cuts to Medicaid are justified and are anything but cruel attacks on the deserving taxpayers who need them and who work hard to pay for them," Clark said. 

In Massachusetts, about 2 million people receive coverage through MassHealth, the state's combined program of Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Medicaid represents about $22.6 billion, or 36%, of line-item spending in Gov. Maura Healey's FY26 budget proposal, which House Democrats are redrafting.

"Nearly half the kids in Massachusetts rely on Medicaid or CHIP for health insurance. Medicaid pays for 70 percent of the long-term care expenses in our state, whether it's people at home or in a nursing home, and [it covers] 50% of people living with disabilities," Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh said. "And this is not a Massachusetts phenomenon. This is not a blue state issue."

On Monday, Walsh visited Boston Children's Hospital alongside Healey, where BCH officials confirmed that cuts affecting the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration have begun to halt the hospital's research.

Emily Dulong, vice president of government advocacy and public policy at the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, said Medicaid cuts would create major gaps in patient care, especially as the system attempts to recover after COVID-19 and Steward Health Care's bankruptcy.

Dulong said hospitals and health systems would be unable to survive Medicaid cuts without making "incredibly difficult decisions" about the types of care they offer. She mentioned concerns about emergency care in Massachusetts. A system already struggling with a boarding crisis, it could face even more demand from patients who lose Medicaid benefits.

"Without the care that they need, many patients would be forced to use their local emergency departments as a first and last line of defense, which is not how the system was designed to work," Dulong said. "In turn, wait times would skyrocket."

Dulong added that overcrowding in facilities would "become the norm," costs of care for all patients would increase, and layoffs would be an "unavoidable" step for systems to stay afloat.

The Trump administration says cuts to federal spending are part of its goals to cut out waste, fraud, abuse and improper payments. 

"There isn't a single member of the Democratic Congress, or I doubt anybody here, who doesn't think our government can run more efficiently and do a better job at serving the people who pay their taxes for those services," Clark said. "But that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing a DOGE operation that is going into our most secure databases that they don't understand, that they are not reading accurately, and taking our personal information and cutting people, not because they've looked and said, 'we've identified waste, we've done audits, we understand.' They're cutting people to cut people," Clark continued. 

Walsh said that using the term "wasteful" to define the Medicaid contract between the feds and Massachusetts is "false."

"What they're calling waste, fraud and abuse are actually the terms of the contract they negotiate with us. And they're pointing to it because our waiver prominently mentions the word 'equity,' because we want to ensure outcomes for people across our entire state," Walsh said.

Clark said that Democrats are "barreling ahead" to fight back against Trump administration cuts, naming a three-pronged strategy which includes taking the administration to court, actively opposing the administration's proposals via legislation, and mobilizing support to fight for programs like Medicaid.

"If we don't, this is how we lose democracies. This is how we lose a country that is based on an American compact with taxpayers — that you work hard, you play by the rules, you should be able to get ahead, not be pushed behind by a billionaire and a billionaire class."

--

Original story HERE.