May 2025
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Medicaid Cuts in the House-Passed Reconciliation Bill: Questions for Senators
Last week the House of Representatives, by the narrowest of margins (215-214), passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1. The bill includes unprecedented changes to Medicaid summarized here by my colleague Edwin Park. Over the next ten years, these changes will terminate Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans and reduce federal Medicaid payments…
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Medicaid and CHIP Cuts in the House-Passed Reconciliation Bill Explained
Editor’s Note: CCF published a brief explaining the final bill that was signed into law on July 4, 2025. In the early morning of Thursday, May 22nd, on a 215-214 vote, House Republicans passed their budget reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or H.R. 1). The bill includes numerous provisions related to Medicaid…
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State Momentum for Maternal Health Legislation Continues: Congressional Cuts Would Turn Back the Clock
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of high-income countries and over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. To improve maternal health outcomes, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act was introduced in the 117th and 118th by Representative Alma Adams and Representative Lauren Underwood, and Senator Cory Booker. The Momnibus Act is a set…
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The Truth About Medicaid Coverage for Immigrants – and the Looming Threats
There has been a lot of information and misinformation about Medicaid coverage for immigrants circulating in the news, including wildly inaccurate reporting that undocumented immigrants are driving up Medicaid spending—when the truth is that they are NOT even eligible for traditional Medicaid. At the same time, while some Republicans in Congress have said they are…
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Medicaid Cuts Grow Harsher as GOP Attempts to Ram Trump Agenda Through House Before Memorial Day
The full court press is on to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill” with President Trump visiting the House Republican Caucus this morning to pressure competing factions to just say “yes” and pass the bill this week — before the Memorial Day recess and before anyone has time to untangle what is in the bill.…
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Medicaid Work Requirements Could Threaten Parents’ and Children’s Coverage and Well-Being
By Jennifer M. Haley, Genevieve M. Kenney, Eva H. Allen, and Michael Karpman Work requirements in Medicaid are on the agenda at the federal level and in multiple states, despite evidence that they increase uninsurance without boosting employment. Medicaid provisions approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of budget reconciliation include a…
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Webinar and Report Release: Medicaid Key to Maternal and Infant Health in Rural America
Georgetown University CCF shared a new report with state-by-state data on Medicaid coverage of women of reproductive age and how cuts could impact their access to obstetric care in small towns and rural areas. Medicaid plays a larger role in providing health coverage to people living in small towns and rural communities than it does…
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House Budget Bill Would Impose Administrative Barriers for Kids, Families, Seniors, and People with Disabilities in Medicaid
With the House Energy and Commerce Committee reporting out its budget reconciliation bill with at least $625 billion in cuts to Medicaid, I find it ironic that a section of the bill entitled “Improving Enrollment Processes” puts a halt to implementation of a Biden-era rule intended to streamline enrollment and improve retention, especially for children,…
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Medicaid Plays A Key Role for Maternal and Infant Health in Rural Communities
Key Findings: Introduction This paper examines the role of Medicaid in covering women of childbearing age (19 through 44 years old) living in small towns and rural areas. Previous research in this series found a higher reliance on Medicaid as a coverage source for children and all non-elderly adults living in small towns and rural…
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Reconciliation Bill Would Restrict State Use of Provider Taxes and Undermine State Financing of Medicaid
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is completing its markup of its section of the House Republican budget reconciliation bill. The bill includes draconian Medicaid cuts, as well as cuts affecting the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, which would cut Medicaid enrollment by 10.3 million people and increase the number of uninsured by 7.6 million people…
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Cuts to Medicaid Expansion in the Proposed Budget Reconciliation Bill being Considered by Congress
FMAP Cuts Tied to State Decisions to Expand Comprehensive Health Coverage with State-Only Funds to Children Regardless of Immigration Status Section 44111 of the proposed budget reconciliation bill being marked up by the House Energy and Commerce Committee today targets the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion for cuts with an apparent aim to advance a…
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How Do We Know Congress’s Work Requirements in Medicaid Will Fail? They Already Have.
As expected, the House’s rushed attempt to finance the Trump Administration’s immigration and tax agenda by cutting Medicaid includes a “work requirement.” Proponents claim that it is intended to support employment but it does no such thing. In fact, it’s a policy that takes health insurance away from millions of people, including workers. This policy…
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Medicaid Provisions Released, Mark-Up Set for Tuesday
Statement by Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, regarding Medicaid provisions included in the House Energy and Commerce budget reconciliation bill text scheduled for mark-up this week “The House Energy and Commerce Committee released the text of its portion of the reconciliation bill at around 10 p.m. last…
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CCF Marks 20th Anniversary as Ominous Cuts to Medicaid Loom
The Center for Children and Families turned 20 on Monday! I marked this milestone as a guest on the NPR 1A program, explaining the role of Medicaid and Congressional proposals to cut it deeply. Many of the listeners needed no convincing that Medicaid was important, indeed life-sustaining for them and their families. One mother called…
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Research Update: Estimates of State Impact of Medicaid Cuts
As we have written about extensively on Say Ahhh!, Medicaid is facing large cuts in the budget reconciliation process with hundreds of billions of dollars on the chopping block. It’s unclear how policymakers will meet the hundreds of billions in cuts assigned to programs under the jurisdiction of the House Energy and Commerce Committee but…
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How Medicaid Supports Older Adults
In Partnership with: Most people are familiar with Medicare as a major source of health coverage for seniors. However, Medicaid also provides crucial coverage for millions of older adults. Over 7 million seniors age 65 and up, including 4.2 million older adults of color, rely on Medicaid to access long-term care and make Medicare more…
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Rescinding the Eligibility and Enrollment Rule Would Thwart Efforts to Improve Efficiency in Medicaid and Efforts to Reduce Improper Payments
Congressional leaders have repeatedly said they are going to protect the most vulnerable from a loss of Medicaid coverage and focus on addressing “waste, fraud, and abuse” but rescinding the Eligibility and Enrollment rule would do neither. The Eligibility and Enrollment Rule (E&E rule) finalized by the Biden Administration in April 2024 is on the…
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Webinar: How Medicaid Supports the Child Care Workforce
The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Center for Law and Social Policy held a webinar on Thursday, May 1st at 3 pm ET. The role of Medicaid: Because child care is a historically underinvested system, many child care centers are unable to provide their…
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Federal Medicaid Cuts Would Harm State GDP, Credit Ratings, Jobs and Health Systems
Medicaid is the nation’s largest health insurer, providing over 70 million children, parents, people with disabilities, and low-income seniors with health coverage. It’s clear that the major cuts to Medicaid funding currently under consideration in Congress would impact the health care system as a whole – health providers would have fewer insured patients, lower payment…
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Thinking Frequent Medicaid Redeterminations Won’t Hurt Children’s Health Insurance? Take a look at What Happened in Texas.
Nearly half (47%) of the 79 million people who get their health insurance through Medicaid are children. To ensure continuity of coverage for children, Congress took action to protect children’s access to health insurance by requiring states to provide a full year of continuous coverage in Medicaid to children beginning in 2024. But will children’s…
