Medicaid Defense: Updates & Opportunities
May 2025
May 22, 2025
Dear friends,
We are devastated to learn that last night, the House of Representatives passed their federal budget reconciliation bill by one vote. California and the federal government both allocate money to pay for Medi-Cal/Medicaid. Governor Newsom is cutting the California portion and the federal government is decimating the federal portion.
The House’s federal budget includes trillions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and the Affordable Care Act. It also excludes gender affirming care from Medicaid and state marketplace health plans for people of all ages. If this plan goes into effect, up to 15 million people will lose their healthcare.
They will use these “savings” to pay for tax cuts to the wealthiest groups in the country, and fund expansion of deportations of our community members. The bill now moves to the Senate and then most likely it will go back to the House to be reconciled. These budget cuts are unacceptable and unconscionable, and we are uniting with coalition partners to fight them.
On the California state level, Governor Newsom has released his May revision of the budget proposal, and it is currently being negotiated at the State Legislature. Some of the most disturbing proposed cuts include:
reinstating the Medi-Cal asset limit of $2,000 for seniors and disabled people only, meaning that for our communities to be eligible for Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid), they can’t have more than $2,000 in the bank at any given time. Even going a dollar above the limit causes people to lose coverage. We fought hard to repeal this asset limit and it was finally eliminated in 2024. Reinstating the asset limit would be a huge step backwards, and is a clear discriminatory measure against seniors and disabled people
imposing $100 monthly premiums on Medi-Cal for undocumented immigrants and people who have not confirmed their immigration status – another discriminatory measure that would put healthcare beyond the reach of many of our low-income community members
limiting IHSS to 50/hours per week, which would particularly impact family caregivers.
Find resources below on the details of budget cuts, and how you can take action against them. If you are interested in getting involved now and receiving further updates, please sign up at bit.ly/SDA-Medicaid and we will contact you soon.
Resources:
More information on proposed California state budget cuts to Medicaid
Statement from Justice in Aging on the U.S. House’s vote on the federal budget
Statement from Advocates for Trans Equality on the cuts to trans healthcare in the federal budget
Action Opportunities – Federal:
Phonebank residents of key senate districts nationally with People's Action Institute to connect people to their Senators, starting with North Carolina
Join Disability & Ally phonebanks to call people in Republican districts of CA and patch them through to their Reps.
Action Opportunities – California:
Tell Governor Newsom: preserve access to healthcare regardless of immigration status
Join our Long-Term Services & Supports for All Coalition in attending Senate hearings in Sacramento – May 28 and 29
If you’re interested in being part of legislative visits with state legislators (particularly if you live outside of San Francisco) sign up here for more info: bit.ly/SDA-Medicaid
Together, we will continue to fight until everyone has the healthcare they need!
May 5, 2025
Medicaid continues to face attacks at the federal level through the budget reconciliation process, as Republican leadership attempts to provide trillions of dollars of tax breaks for the wealthiest in the country. They also aim to increase funding to the deportation machine and pay for it with cuts to social services, such as Medicaid and Social Security. At this point, the House and Senate have both passed their versions of the budget plan, and now they are in the process of negotiating specific spending cuts. Their goal is to be done by Memorial Day.
As we know, these cuts would be devastating to people across the country – one in five people are on Medicaid nationwide, and one in three are on Medicaid in California (known as Medi-Cal). Medicaid is essential for independent living for seniors and disabled people, as IHSS and most other long-term services and supports are funded through Medicaid.
So what can we do? There is still time to put pressure on our elected officials and let them know that cuts to Medicaid are unacceptable. Here are some ways to take action:
Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them why Medicaid is so important to you and/or your loved ones.
Call your reps at 866-426-2631 and email them through Caring Across Generations’ Protect Medicaid tool.
Join California Alliance for Retired Americans' phone banks every Wednesday, 4 to 5:30pm.
Fight for Our Health hosts daily phone banks targeting Republican districts of California and encouraging residents to call their reps (and you can even patch them through right then and there)!
If you’re interested in getting involved with SDA’s Medicaid organizing through the Long-Term Services and Supports for All Coalition, sign up for Medicaid defense here or email grace@sdaction.org.
And we’re in the streets too! In April, a contingent from the LTSS4All Coalition went to Modesto for the Disability Week of Action to Protect Medicaid and joined Congressman McClintock's constituents to urge the him to vote no on the proposed Medicaid budget cuts. We rallied in solidarity to defend the future of critical programs for people with disabilities, seniors, and domestic workers who rely on Medicaid.
The organizations and individuals who participated in the demonstration made it clear that we must ensure these programs continue to provide the necessary services and support so that people with disabilities and older adults can continue to have alternatives for living in the community.