New AFL-CIO Report Shows Medicaid Cuts Will Spike Health Care Costs for Everyone
New research shows the reconciliation bill will raise premiums by nearly $500 a year for 179 million workers with job-based insurance, cost more than 600,000 health care jobs
(Washington, D.C.)—The AFL-CIO released new analysis Tuesday showing that the Medicaid cuts Senate Republican leaders are pushing through the budget reconciliation process would raise health care costs for everyone, including an estimation of up to $485 a year for the 179 million people with employment-based insurance. The research shows that if it becomes law, the bill would result in higher premiums, less access to emergency rooms and fewer providers available to provide care—not only for people who use Medicaid, but for millions more working people across the country.
“This budget reconciliation bill makes it seem like cutting Medicaid is going to save taxpayers money when it’s really going to cost all of us more—all to give tax breaks to the rich,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “We’re not going to let the Republican-controlled Congress make our health care more expensive and less accessible for working people.”
The AFL-CIO’s new analysis finds that if the reconciliation bill under consideration in the Senate becomes law:
- For the 179 million workers with job-based insurance, premiums could soar by nearly $500 a year for each person covered and nearly $2,000 annually for a family of four.
- Sixteen million people would lose health coverage entirely, pushing more patients into urgent care and emergency rooms—driving up costs for everyone across the health care system.
- States would be forced to gut other vital services to close the gap left by federal cuts. Funding for schools, fire departments and infrastructure projects will be jeopardized, putting state and city essential workers’ jobs on the chopping block.
- Hospitals and health care providers will be forced to absorb billions in uncompensated care costs, which will then be passed on to patients through higher premiums and reduced access to care, as facilities will be forced to shutter under financial strain.
- More than 600,000 front-line health care workers would be fired, tossing the people who would care for our parents as they get older and our kids when they get sick out of their jobs.
- More than 330 rural hospitals across the country, from Alaska to Alabama and particularly in the South, would be forced to close if these Medicaid cuts become law. These hospital closures would strip entire communities of access to emergency rooms, ambulances and maternity wards, forcing those in rural and lower-income communities to travel farther and wait longer for care.
Read the full analysis here.
Contact: Onotse Omoyeni, 202-637-5018