PHI Statement: Senate Passes Trump Administration’s Signature Bill

Today’s passage of the budget reconciliation bill by the U.S. Senate will have long-lasting, devastating impacts on programs critical to the health, well-being, and livelihoods of people and families in every U.S. state. Direct care workers and their families are among the millions who will be deeply impacted by these cruel cuts. 

This legislation will impose $930 billion in cuts to Medicaid, far deeper cuts than the House version of the bill. Cuts through this bill and other policy changes are expected to result in lost coverage for an estimated 17 million people.  The bill will also result in dramatic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP costs will be shifted to individual states for the first time, seriously undermining access to food and other essentials for direct care workers and so many others.   

Among numerous concerning provisions, the Senate version of the bill will eliminate Medicaid eligibility and other program eligibility for documented immigrants who are not permanent residents. This will be particularly detrimental to direct care workers and the people who rely on them, since nearly one in four direct care workers are documented immigrants, and many rely on Medicaid and other public programs due to persistently low wages.   

Congress and the Trump Administration stand on the verge of abdicating their responsibility to the health and well-being of our country’s most vulnerable. As this rushed, poorly considered legislation returns to the House, it is still not too late for a bill that will cause unnecessary deaths, impact the availability, quality, and continuity of care for Americans in every state, and impact the quality of direct care jobs—to be stopped.  

“Medicaid and SNAP are essential programs that we need to build on in sustainable, forward-thinking ways—not dismantle,” said PHI’s President and CEO, Jodi M. Sturgeon. “House members have a profound responsibility to reject this bill, which will have devastating impact for generations of Americans.”