New York State Senate and Assembly Majorities Call on U.S. Senate to Stop Devastating Medicaid Cuts

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, together with members of the Senate and Assembly Majorities, today called on the U.S. Senate to stop $13 billion in proposed Medicaid cuts that will put 1.5 million New Yorkers at risk of losing Medicaid and devastate hospitals and nursing homes across the state.

New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, “These Medicaid cuts represent real pain and injustice for nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers who depend on these vital services. The State Senate Democratic Majority and our colleagues in state government will fight tirelessly, but we alone cannot stop the flood of harm these reckless cuts would unleash. The U.S. Senate must reject this dangerous proposal—New Yorkers’ health, families and wellbeing are at stake.”

“Republicans keep calling their proposed budget the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, but we can see it for what it really is - an ugly and devastating attempt to rip away healthcare from more than one million New Yorkers,” Speaker Carl Heastie said. “Our friends and colleagues in the U.S. Senate must stand against this. They cannot allow this administration to put the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers on the chopping block to give their billionaire donors a tax cut.”

The proposed federal budget will cut $13.5 billion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, putting almost 1.5 million New Yorkers at risk of losing their health insurance. The plan would impose new work requirements and increase copays for many Medicaid recipients. Additionally, it would drastically limit enrollment time for the ACA marketplace.

Increased cuts would also devastate the healthcare economy across the state, causing a $1.3 billion annual reduction in hospital revenue, resulting in hardworking New Yorkers losing their jobs.