Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to VOTE NO on H. Con. Res. 14, the budget reconciliation text being marked up today. Votes on this issue may be scored in NEA’s report card for the 119th Congress.
To provide more tax breaks for billionaires, the proposed text introduces new limits on eligibility for health care coverage under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. As a result, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 8.6 million would lose coverage under Medicaid and 5.1 million would lose coverage under the Affordable Care Act—a total of 13.7 million Americans.
Medicaid provides health care coverage for over 80 million Americans, including 38 million children and 1 in 10 education support professionals. It is also the fourth-largest source of support for K-12 public schools. An additional 24 million Americans obtain coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
The proposed changes in Medicaid include 80 hours per month of “community engagement” (work, education, job training or volunteering) and an avalanche of paperwork—for example, verifying eligibility twice a year, instead of just once.
From real-life experience, we know such requirements cause people to lose health care coverage for which they are still eligible—for example, because they fill out a form incorrectly or lack transportation to the office that verifies eligibility. According to a recent study by the Commonwealth Fund and the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, up to 5.2 million adults could lose Medicaid coverage in 2026 alone—leading in turn to the loss of nearly half a million jobs.
Rural areas would be hit especially hard. Health care providers are already in short supply, and many hospitals have closed or can no longer afford to provide essential—but unprofitable—services like maternity care. Slashing the number of people covered by Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act would exacerbate these problems.
In addition to opposing the text being marked up, we urge you to:
- Oppose any amendments to further limit eligibility or make additional cuts in Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act
- Support any amendments to restore the proposed cuts in Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act
For all these reasons, we urge you to vote NO on H. Con. Res. 14.
Sincerely,
Marc Egan
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
