The Texas Medical Association along with 49 other state medical societies, plus the District of Columbia, have called for Congress to safeguard Medicaid against proposed cuts in the budget resolution recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
House Concurrent Resolution 14, introduced by Rep. Jodey Arrington, and passed in the House by a 217-215 vote on Feb. 25, instructs the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees Medicaid, to reduce the deficit by at least $880 billion for the period of fiscal years 2025 through 2034.
The Feb. 27 letter, addressing concern that this level of budget cuts would adversely impact Medicaid, called the program “the safety net for our most vulnerable patients.”
The state medical societies cautioned that Medicaid cuts would lead to millions of Americans losing coverage. As a result, “their health conditions will worsen and the financial burden will shift to the states, physicians, emergency rooms, hospitals, and all other patients.”
Additionally, Medicaid cuts would disproportionately and adversely impact rural and at-risk communities, undo “innovations and efficiencies in our state Medicaid programs that have reduced costs and improved health outcomes,” and “cause a cascading negative impact on the entire health care system,” they wrote, forcing physician practices, rural hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes to close, and health care workers to lose their jobs.
Specific Medicaid-cutting proposals could shift costs to individual states, the letter continues, upsetting the current federal-state partnerships that undergird the system, while leaving millions more susceptible to unexpected health care and public health crises, economic recessions, and even natural disasters.
The budget resolution calls for a total of $2 trillion in cuts – including $880 billion from the Energy and Commerce Committee budget. Congress has until March 14 to pass a budget bill or face a shutdown. Learn more about TMA’s role in national advocacy and read Texas Medicine Today for updates.
Last Updated On
March 06, 2025
Originally Published On
March 05, 2025
Phil West
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1394
phil.west[at]texmed[dot]org
Phil West is a writer and editor whose publications include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers. He lives in Austin with his wife, children, and a trio of free-spirited dogs.