Last week, after House Republicans passed a budget plan designed to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and large corporations by cutting Medicaid funding, Democrats led a committee hearing to understand the potential impacts, including potentially kicking more than 300,000 Nevadans off their coverage. This comes after Joe Lombardo told the Nevada Independent that he doesn’t have a contingency plan or solution to the disruption potential cuts could cause working families. Lombardo had the opportunity to meet in person with Trump days before the House Republicans’ budget resolution passed and stand up for hundreds of thousands of Nevadans’ health care access, but stayed home instead. 

The Assistant GOP Leader of the Nevada Senate said cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare are “fair game” as part of Republican efforts to pass Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires and giant corporations. Last month, GOP Assembly Minority Leader said he was “not concerned about how the federal budget cuts could impact Nevadans”, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, despite the fact that these cuts could cost the state nearly $1.9 billion over the next two years and double the state’s uninsured rate. 

Meanwhile, Nevada Democrats in Congress are fighting for working families who depend on Medicaid by opposing the GOP’s harmful budget. Additionally, Senator Jacky Rosen brought a teen who has relied on Medicaid to get the care he needs to stay alive as her guest to Donald Trump’s Joint Session of Congress Address to show the real impact Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid will have on the lives of Nevadans.

Read more below: 

Reno-Gazette Journal: Would Medicaid changes hurt Nevada’s ‘fragile’ health system? Legislature hears worst case

Key points: 

• Although the fate of Medicaid is unclear, it’d be a disaster for Nevada if the federal government decides to cut its funding.

• That was the uncontradicted message at a joint hearing of Senate and Assembly members Wednesday evening at the Nevada Legislature.

• The meeting was intended to give a forum to those who use and work with Medicaid so they could explain the potential effects on the state under different scenarios caused by uncertainty in Washington, D.C.

• Hospitals, private clinics, nonprofits, parents of children with severe behavioral issues and one woman who said Medicaid-covered prescriptions kept her from committing suicide were among those who spoke.

• “We have a fragile health care system,” said Richard Whitley, who heads Nevada’s Department of Health and Human Services.

• Depending upon the scenario, they said, Nevada would have to take on almost $2 billion in spending the federal government currently handles, almost half the state’s Medicaid recipients could lose coverage, and rural hospitals and nursing homes would likely cut services.

• Assemblymember Tracy Brown-May, a Democrat from Las Vegas who chaired the hearing, started by saying legislators have a responsibility to understand different eventualities because Medicaid funding has such deep effects into all corners of Nevada.

• “This really is information gathering at this point so that we can be strategic and thoughtful as we plan to care for Nevadans receiving health care and community-based services,” she said.

KSNV: Senator Jacky Rosen opposes GOP budget plans affecting Medicaid and SNAP

• U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen has strongly opposed Republican budget proposals that would impact Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

• Rosen, alongside a local mother whose son depends on Medicaid, released a statement ahead of former President Donald Trump’s address, emphasizing the critical role these programs play.

• Nearly 40 percent of all Nevada children receive healthcare from Medicaid or the CHIP program.

• These programs are lifelines to most, giving them access to life-saving medicines they would not be able to otherwise.