Michigan healthcare leaders and advocates gathered today to speak out against the Trump Administration’s Medicaid cuts.
Last July, a federal reconciliation law — dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — passed, serving as the core legislative package for President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.
The law includes various cuts to federal healthcare spending, including:
- Over $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid over a ten-year period, according to the Congressional Budget Office — a figure that reflects, in part, savings from broader work requirements for program eligibility.
- Cuts to the Children's Health Insurance Program, a joint federal and state program that provides low-cost health coverage to children in families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.
- Elimination of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which could, according to a KFF analysis, increase average marketplace deductibles by more than $1,000 per person in 2026.
- Lowering federal reimbursement rates paid to medical providers, threatening funding for hospitals.
Supporters of the provisions say they target waste, fraud, and abuse by tightening eligibility requirements – all while preserving programs for those that need them the most.
Critics say the law compromises public health to pad corporate profits, driving up inflation, medical debt, and hospital closures
According to recent reports, 90,255 people in Michigan have lost their Medicaid or CHIP coverage and 130,789 dropped their ACA health care coverage after premiums increased.
A press conference hosted by Protect Our Care Michigan brought together Michigan leaders and health advocates to highlight some of the impacts in the state.
Democratic congresswoman Hillary Scholten (D-MI 3) spoke first, highlighting what she has heard from her constituents about the real-life impacts of reduced resources.
“These are parents wondering whether they can afford to take their child to the doctor,” Scholten said. “It's a small business owner struggling to keep coverage for their family and their employees. It's someone putting off a prescription or a screening because they simply cannot afford another bill. And these pressures are only going to get worse if we don't change course.”
She said Congress should focus on affordability instead of claims of fraud that she sees as politically weaponized.
“There is nothing inevitable about health care becoming less affordable or less accessible. These are policy choices, and Congress can and should make different ones.”
Megan Erskine, Chief Executive Officer of Catherine’s Health Center, said she is concerned that increased work requirements to qualify for Medicaid — set to take effect in most states January 1, 2027 — will be an undue burden in getting care.
She shared a story about a woman with Diabetes who was unable to afford insurance because of the elimination of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
“She chooses to put food on the table and keep a roof over her kids head at the expense of her health,” Erskine said. “We see patients like this every single day at Catherine's Health Center. Insured individuals do not get preventive care. They delay primary care, and that means that costs increase for all of us because they are forced to use emergency rooms.”
Melissa LaGrand, a county commissioner representing District 16 on the Kent County Board of Commissioners, said her experience working for Kent County's community mental health authority has shown her how necessary it is that individuals receive high-quality mental health support.
“It's just really, really vital to people facing mental health challenges that they get that consistent care, access to medication, access to therapy,” LaGrand said, “That's just it's really basic stuff. It's keeping body and soul together and it's keeping the community together. It's just a very anti-community thing to do, to have these Medicaid cuts.”
