ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Cuts to Medicaid are on the horizon and the fight is on in Washington to determine just how deep those cuts will go.

As the GOP advances President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,”—Medicaid has become a focal point. 

Under the current bill, the majority of those who could lose Medicaid coverage are people who became eligible for it under the Affordable Care Act.

Those enrollees would face new work requirements unless they have an approved exemption.

Republicans in the House, including Rep. Claudia Tenney (N.Y. 24) say it’s mostly able-bodied adults who don’t work who will lose Medicaid. “I worked in the state legislature, I know what the numbers are. The Medicaid budget is exploding, in just 10 years we have double our Medicaid budget from 30 billion to 60 billion, I mean, we’re spending more money on Medicaid then we spend on educating our children in k-12,” she tells News10NBC.

Roughly 8 million people are on Medicaid out of 19 million people in the state of New York, if the bill passes, the number would be cut to just over 5 million according to Rep. Tenney, “we do not cut Medicaid, all we do is say that you have to have work requirements.”

According to the bill, able-bodied enrollees will have to work, volunteer or attend school for at least 80 hours each month to continue coverage. States would also have to check eligibility more frequently and implement cost-sharing for certain services for higher income beneficiaries.

Democrats in the house, including Rep. Joe Morelle (N.Y. 25) say the bill goes far beyond work requirements.

“Whether you’re on Medicaid or whether you’re on Medicare or whether you have commercial insurance, you’re still going to be impacted pretty dramatically by this,” Rep. Morelle says, “what you’re going to find is emergency rooms which are already struggling to meet demand, they’re going to be further and further backed up because people won’t be able to get into nursing homes, they won’t be able to get into hospital beds and the pain will be felt by everyone.”

Although the bill already passed the House, Rep. Morelle says after its reconciled in the Senate, he’ll get another vote and his focus will be on how it could impact our local people and those who care for them. “We’re tracking it literally on a day to day basis, I talk to the folks at Rochester Regional and URMC and their medical centers literally every day, my staff is in constant communication with them,” Morelle says.

The current bill also eliminates subsides that the American Rescue Plan offers to lower-middle class people and families who buy insurance through the Essential Plan marketplace. The governor’s office said in a news release on Monday that in the Finger Lakes region, that will amount to an average increase of $248 per month for a couple buying coverage on the exchange.

News10NBC’s Jennifer Lewke recently spoke with the Commissioner of the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports about how Medicaid cuts will impact the people her agency serves. “It will be disastrous, in our treatment programs, about two-thirds of people have Medicaid, two-thirds, so if there are cuts to Medicaid it will affect every one of us, all of the programs and all of the services we provide. These are lifesaving services,” says Dr. Chinazo Cunningham.    

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