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By Anne Montgomery, Senior Health Policy Expert
Seniors’ advocates who analyzed the reconciliation bill narrowly approved by the House of Representatives in May hoped that the U.S. Senate would temper unaffordable tax cuts for the wealthy — and avoid slashing Medicaid and SNAP. Those hopes have been dashed by Senate Republicans on the Finance and Agriculture Committees, who propose to end Medicaid and SNAP as we know them – as lifelines for millions of Americans across the country who need reliable access to basic health care and food to survive.
As Common Dreams so aptly put it in their news headline this week, “
“We’re watching in real time as Senate Republicans line up to gut healthcare for millions of Americans in order to pay for tax cuts for themselves, their wealthy donors, and big businesses.” – Common Dreams, 6/17/25
Although the Congressional Budget Office has yet to announce an estimate of the Senate bill’s funding reductions through 2034, most anticipate it will carve $1 trillion or so out of current federal funding for the two programs and use this as a partial offset for tax cuts that will benefit high-wealth individuals and businesses.
Senate Republicans are ploughing ahead with this devastating legislation despite the fact that new polling shows Americans oppose it by a margin of 2 to 1, among those who knew about the bill’s provisions.
If Congress shoves this bill forward into law, states will become quickly impoverished as the health care system begins to collapse. Hospitals will not be able to provide care to millions of newly uninsured people who come to emergency rooms with no source of coverage. Nursing homes will not be able to field sufficient staff to provide decent care to older adults. Seniors and people with disabilities will be unable to get care in the place of their choosing.
Republicans are using fake arguments that Medicaid and SNAP are somehow wasteful and inefficient. But health care providers – doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other skilled practitioners – know otherwise. Medicaid payments for their services are already modest, in some cases lower than the actual cost of care. For families, the SNAP payments they use to buy groceries are hardly luxurious, averaging $726 per month (in Virginia, for example) for a family with two kids. That’s $181 per week.
Low-income adults between the ages 50 to 64 will be devastated by the House and Senate bills. Many are family caregivers, who are helping out their adult children with child care or providing support for older loved ones.
For the first time ever, these caregivers aged 50-64, who are not yet eligible for Medicare, would be subject to rigid work requirements in order to continue receiving health care and food assistance. The results are predictable: many of them will go without health care coverage themselves, and will be at risk of hunger.
To say all of this is cruel is an understatement. It will also damage the broader economy, which would be saddled with an additional five TRILLION dollars of debt. This means that interest payments on the debt that all taxpayers must pay will soar.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare sees this as a clarion call to stop what has been called “the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in U.S. history.” We urge you to raise your voices — as frequently as you can. Write letters and emails. Make appointments with staffers working for your Representative and the Senators in your state. Show up at rallies and share your story, or your neighbor’s story. Go to town halls. Elect those who show they care about YOU, not just getting rich and plunging the nation into fiscal chaos.
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LISTEN TO ANNE MONTGOMERY ON OUR PODCAST, WHERE SHE TALKS ABOUT THE DISADVANTAGES OF MEDICARE ADVANTAGE here.