Pennsylvania Democrats Scanlon and Dean warn about cuts to Medicaid in marathon hearing on Trump-backed bill
Scanlon’s district has already absorbed a blow, losing Crozer-Chester Medical Center, which had been Delaware County’s essential healthcare facilities.
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.) said Wednesday during a marathon congressional hearing that cuts to Medicaid that are being advanced by Republicans will “threaten access to care for all Americans.”
Scanlon, whose district includes all of Delaware County and parts of South Philadelphia and Montgomery County, added that such cuts “will push hospitals, nursing homes, and health clinics into bankruptcy. When those places close, it’s going to be harder for everyone else to get healthcare.”
Scanlon’s district recently suffered the closure of Crozer-Chester Medical Center, which had provided Delaware County’s essential healthcare facilities.
The Delaware County Democrat serves on the House Rules Committee, which had been debating the Republicans’ tax and spending cuts proposal that was part of President Donald Trump’s so-called big, beautiful bill since 1 a.m. Wednesday. The hearing stretched into Wednesday evening.
Under the legislation, around 15 million people would lose health coverage and become uninsured by 2034 because of the Medicaid cuts, along with the Republican proposal not to extend enhanced premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage, and other ACA marketplace changes, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
On Wednesday, Scanlon and other Democrats criticized Republicans on cuts to Medicaid that are part of the 1,100-page bill, while some Republicans expressed concerns that that spending was not being cut enough.
U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Pa.) warned that cuts to Medicaid would harm substance abuse treatment in Pennsylvania, contending that 100,000 people in the state would have their access to services jeopardized.
“What this budget proposes to do — slash that. Let those people go out in the cold. Let them try to find recovery on their own,” said the Montgomery County Democrat, who noted she has a son in substance abuse recovery.
Republicans have long wanted to reduce Medicaid spending and enact work requirements for able-bodied recipients.
In Philadelphia on Monday, Mehmet Oz, Trump’s newly confirmed administrator for the nation‘s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia that proposed changes to Medicaid would make the program more streamlined. This would help officials focus on the most vulnerable beneficiaries, Oz said.
“We have not policed the program well,” Oz said.