As Congress deliberates on stopgap measures to fund the government for 2025, the House of Representatives has passed a budget resolution for 2026 calling for $2 trillion in spending cuts, including $880 billion to come from programs overseen by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which — in addition to energy, the environment, and other issues — oversees Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California).
The Senate passed its own budget resolution, calling for significantly less savings. Now, the House and Senate must come to an agreement and pass new, identical budget resolutions. The Senate is not likely to act on the House proposal for several weeks, but in the meantime, budget experts believe the savings called for in the House resolution are not achievable without significant cuts to Medicaid, which covers nearly 15 million Californians.
A CHA alert sent last month asks hospital leaders to reach out to their congressional representatives to share how the threat to Medicaid will impede hospitals’ ability to care for patients. If your organization has not yet contacted your congressional representatives, now is the time. House members are home in their districts the week of March 17.
CHA has been speaking with members of Congress to drive home the impact of these cuts in California and has created a new one-stop web page to support federal advocacy efforts. New materials include:
- A fact sheet on Medicaid in California (https://calhospital.org/file/medicaid-in-california-fact-sheet/)
- An overview of how provider taxes support hospital care (https://calhospital.org/file/medicaid-provider-taxes-protect-californians-access-to-care/)
- Calculations on how different federal budget proposals could reduce Medicaid revenue (https://calhospital.org/file/cuts-to-medicaid-would-leave-california-with-few-choices-put-access-to-care-at-risk/)
- And more
In addition, CHA, alongside the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, is calling for Medicaid to be protected through a digital campaign launched this month that reinforces the value Medicaid provides to California. The coalition’s campaign includes a new television and digital media commercial warning of devastating cuts to Medicaid and urges Congress to protect Medicaid and ensure access to care for patients.
As a reminder, CHA has sent two letters to California’s congressional delegation: one related to the 2026 budget process where Medicaid cuts are being debated and a second related to a continuing budget resolution to fund the government in 2025 that must be passed by March 14 to avoid a government shutdown.
The magnitude of the Medicaid cuts now being discussed in Washington, D.C., are such that if any of the proposals pass, hospitals in California would be faced with deeply disconcerting decisions about how they can continue to meet the health care needs of millions of people, regardless of their health insurer. This will be a lengthy battle, and hospitals must tell their story again and again to make sure they are heard.
Now is the time for every hospital to make use of these new resources, to reach out to your congressional representatives — regardless of party affiliation — and to tell the story of how Medicaid cuts will affect your patients, your hospital, and your community.
