FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 2025 
Contact: Jack Cardinal, jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org 

“Politicians are rushing to terminate coverage for millions of people to pay for tax breaks that only benefit the wealthy and big corporations.”  

BOSTON, MA — House Republican leadership has unveiled a proposal to pay for tax breaks that only benefit the wealthy and big corporations by gutting Medicaid and other critical health programs—terminating care for millions, including older adults in long-term care, caregivers, people with disabilities, veterans, and families or individuals with low-incomes or unpredictable work. These rushed, reckless cuts dismantle the very policies that help people get and stay covered—while burdening states, small businesses, and already struggling rural hospitals. 

Community Catalyst is helping lead a growing movement of people demanding more from our health system—more access, more accountability, and more equity. 

“Politicians are rushing to terminate coverage for millions of people to pay for tax breaks that only benefit the wealthy and big corporations,” said Mona Shah, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy at Community Catalyst. “The end goal is clear: slash the programs that keep our communities healthy while doing nothing to rein in the corporate profiteering driving up costs. The result? Closed hospitals, more medical debt, and worse health outcomes—especially in communities already facing deep inequities. These consequences will hit red and blue districts alike. 

“We won’t let them divide us. Across the country, people are uniting to defend care, reject corporate greed, and demand a health system that puts people over profit. Now is the time to strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act—not tear them down. Health care is not a luxury—it’s a right.” 

Medicaid is a lifeline for more than 70 million people in the U.S. and Republicans are proposing the largest cuts to the program in history. But this bill goes beyond Medicaid. It’s a sweeping attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and reopens the door to discrimination against immigrants, people with preexisting conditions, women, and people seeking gender-affirming care. 

These cuts will hit hardest in communities already harmed most by our health system due to racism, classism, and other forms of oppression—Black, Latinx and immigrant communities; LGBTQ+ people; caregivers and low-wage workers; and rural residents. They will drive up costs, increase medical debt, and destabilize entire local economies, all while shielding insurance companies, hospital systems, and private equity firms from accountability. This is a direct assault on the health and financial security of our communities.

Five Attacks on Our Health Disguised as Policy 

1. Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Cruel and Costly Distraction: Most people on Medicaid are already working, caregiving, or living with serious health conditions. These so-called work requirements don’t help people find jobs—they create unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that punish cancer patients, freelancers, laid-off workers, and unpaid caregivers by threatening their health coverage. This has been proven in states who have unsuccessfully attempted work requirements in their Medicaid programs. Nearly two-thirds of those who could lose Medicaid are women. Instead of investing in care, this wasteful policy squanders taxpayer dollars on paperwork while ignoring the real driver of health care costs: unchecked corporate greed. It’s not about accountability—it’s about cutting care to fund more tax breaks for billionaires.

2. Reproductive and Maternal Care Is on the Line—Again: Medicaid covers 4 in 10 births in the U.S., making it essential to reproductive and maternal health. This proposal cuts Medicaid access—potentially leading to closed maternity wards and restricts funding for providers who offer comprehensive reproductive care. Combined with work requirements that disproportionately target women—especially caregivers and low-wage workers without employee coverage—these cuts will strip life-saving care from those already facing the worst outcomes, particularly Black and Latinx communities.

3. Enrollment Barriers Push People Out of Coverage: This proposal would allow insurers to deny coverage for unpaid premiums and limits special enrollment for life changes. These barriers will leave more people uninsured, particularly those navigating life transitions, caregiving duties, or language access challenges.

4. Attacks on Gender-Affirming Care Undermine Trust and Put Lives at Risk: This bill proposes banning federal Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for minors and prohibits Affordable Care Act plans from recognizing gender-affirming procedures as essential health benefits. These discriminatory attacks politicize care decisions, undermine trust in the health system, and threaten the lives and well-being of transgender youth and their families.

5. Scapegoating Immigrants Threatens Everyone’s Health: By redefining “lawfully present” and restricting coverage access, this bill targets states who provide coverage to immigrant families and undocumented communities—which could deny care to caregivers, essential workers, and neighbors. These politics sow division while weakening public health and safety for us all.

Community Catalyst: Leading the Fight for Health Justice 

As a national leader in the fight to defend Medicaid and expand race equity and health justice, Community Catalyst is not just resisting harmful cuts—we’re building the power to reimagine what’s possible. With more than 350 partners across the country, we’re organizing alongside those most impacted—parents, patients, caregivers, and frontline providers—to demand a system where health is a right, not a privilege. 

Recent actions led or supported by Community Catalyst include:

  • More than 33,000 people signing petitions to protect Medicaid from rushed and reckless cuts.
  • Nearly 2,700 people contacting their members of Congress to oppose harmful proposals and defend care.
  • More than 5,500 people sharing their stories about losing coverage, navigating medical debt, and facing systemic barriers to care.
  • Dozens of storytellers, like Beyssa in Florida—who was needlessly disenrolled due to paperwork errors—meeting directly with lawmakers during Community Catalyst’s #CareNotCollections Day of Action to demand accountability and change.

The tides are turning. Across race, place, and party lines, people are demanding more—not less—from their leaders when it comes to health care. Voters are clear: they want a health system that puts people over profit, treats care as a public good, and ensures no one is forced to choose between getting treatment and staying afloat financially. In this moment of rising costs and deepening inequities, the path forward isn’t to roll back coverage—it’s to go further. At Community Catalyst, we are doubling down on building the power, partnerships, and policy momentum needed to challenge the status quo and create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, where health is a right for all. The future is not about austerity—it’s about accountability. And we’re here to lead it. 

“This is our moment to fight back—and push forward. We invite everyone who believes health care is a right to join us in demanding bold solutions, not brutal cuts. Speak out. Share your story and demand that our collective voices can no longer be ignored by those opposed to health justice,” continued Shah.  

Spokespeople, Storytellers, State and Local Partners Available: Community Catalyst policy experts, people with lived experience, and on-the-ground partners from our network of over 350 organizations nationwide are available for interviews. We can help connect reporters to local voices in communities most impacted by these proposals—from rural areas to urban centers. To arrange interviews or request additional information, please contact Jack Cardinal at jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org.  

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About Community Catalyst:

Community Catalyst is a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, and a society where health is a right for all. We’re an experienced, trusted partner to organizations across the country, a change agent to policymakers at the local, state, and national level, and both an adversary and a collaborator to health systems in our efforts to advance health justice. We partner with local, state and national organizations and leaders to leverage and build power so that people are at the center of important decisions about health and health care, whether they are made by health care executives, in state houses, or on Capitol Hill. Together with partners, we’re building a powerful, united movement with a shared vision of and strategy for a health system accountable to all people. Learn more at www.communitycatalyst.org.