Nurse Says Proposed Medicaid Cuts a ‘Knife in the Back’ to Patients

• Proposed Medicaid cuts have prompted outcries from nurses and other health officials. 
• The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget resolution in February that included roughly $880 billion in cuts between 2025 and 2034 to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid.  
• Opponents of the cuts say that reducing funding for Medicaid will negatively impact patient care. 

Nurses from coast to coast are speaking out against proposed federal cuts to Medicaid, citing the negative effect it would have on patient care. 

“This is a knife in the back for people across the country, from the biggest city to the quietest backroad,” Molly Zenker, a nurse in North Carolina, said during a protest last month. “… Elderly and disabled people would be robbed of the support services they need to survive. Millions could lose their ability to get anything but emergency care. Without Medicaid, we know patients won’t get the preventative care they need.” 

Medicaid — the locally and federally funded healthcare program that provides free and reduced-cost health care to children, the elderly, and low-income individuals — is poised for billion in cuts over the next decade to help pay for tax cuts. 

Proposed Medicaid Cuts & Federal Budgeting

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed budget resolution included roughly $880 billion in cuts between 2025 and 2034 to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid. The resolution passed, 217-215. 

Prior to the vote in late February, the American Hospital Association released a statement urging legislator to protect Medicaid from “harmful cuts.” 

“On behalf of the hospitals, nurses, doctors and those who care for and serve the needs of the 72 million patients that rely on Medicaid, we urge you to consider the implications of hinging the budget reconciliation bill’s fate on removing health care access for millions of our nation’s patients,” AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack said in the statement. “These are hardworking families, children, seniors, veterans, and disabled individuals who rely on essential health care services.” 

More than 72 million people in the country rely on Medicaid, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In a KFF analysis, Elizabeth Williams, Alice Burns, and Robin Rudowitz wrote that “detailed proposals” aren’t yet being considered in Congress. Still, reductions at the federal level would require states to make “tough choices about how to offset reductions through tax increases or cuts to other programs, like education.” 

If they’re unable to trim enough from other areas, the KFF authors said Medicaid programs would have to be reduced. 

While the budget legislation didn’t specifically mention Medicaid cuts, a Congressional Budget Office analysis found that it would be required, noting that “Medicaid outlays account for $8.2 trillion, or 93 percent, of that amount.” 

Proposed Medicaid Cuts & Patient Care

Several nursing unions have held protests at or near their legislators’ offices. Many carried oversized checks made out to “The Billionaire Class” and signs with phrases like, “Some cuts don’t heal,” and “Nobody Elected Musk.” 

A nurse who protested in North Carolina told ABC 13 News that she’s “terrified” her patients will lose access to healthcare. In Texas, another nurse took a broader view, telling FoxSA proposed cuts would “affect the entire hospital system.” 

Seniors would be particularly affected due to receiving home care or living in nursing homes that receive funding through Medicaid. Community PACE center in rural Michigan, for example, could even shutter its doors and leave its residents in “life or death” situations if cuts are made to the program. 

“If left to see to their own needs, a lot of them would stay in their homes and would slowly die,” Dr. Fred Levin, who runs the facility, told Stateline.org. “They wouldn’t be able to get to their doctors’ appointments unless they had a family member to help. They wouldn’t get social care. They wouldn’t have people coming into their homes and seeing the bed bugs or the lice in their hair. They wouldn’t get their medications.” 

Other states, such as New York, are holding a series of hearings to “highlight the real-life implications” of Medicaid cuts. New York State Nurses Association and National Nurses United Co-President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, testified at the first of these hearings.  

The Bottom Line

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a budget resolution that includes billions of dollars in cuts to the committee that oversees Medicaid. An outside analysis found that there’s no way to reduce spending under that committee without slashing Medicaid funding at the federal level. Nurses and healthcare leaders throughout the country have come out against the potential cuts, citing the negative impact it would have on patients and healthcare. 

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