House Republicans have an outrageous plan to take health care, food, and more away from tens of thousands of Mainers. Maine Equal Justice opposes this budget.
We are sounding the alarm - this isn’t a drill. These bills are the biggest attack on health care and food in the history of Medicaid and SNAP. These plans do not have popular support, so we can’t stay silent. Speak up with us to defend Maine’s hard-won health care gains, and food that Maine people depend on!
What can I do?
Call Senator Susan Collins and Senator Angus King and ask them to vote no on any bills that take away health care or food by cutting Medicaid or gutting SNAP.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Congressman Jared Golden have already said they oppose bills like this that take away health care and food to give tax breaks to the rich.
So what exactly is happening with these House bills?
For months, Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have been scheming to take away health care and food by cutting Medicaid and SNAP, all to give more tax breaks to the wealthy. This week, they moved one step closer when the House committees released their plans. The bills are a shameful swipe at the popular and much-needed programs Maine people depend on for health care, food, and other basic needs. But the bills are far from final, and people are paying attention and speaking out. We've highlighted some of the Maine numbers to give you an idea how this would look in our state.
Here’s what you should know about health care:
House Republicans want to cut $625 billion from Medicaid (which is called MaineCare in Maine). Their plan takes health care away from struggling Mainers so they can give more tax breaks to the rich, and restrict how we can use our own state funds to care for our communities.
All together, nearly 14 million people nationwide could lose their health care coverage from Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
Here’s how they’re hurting our health:
- Cancelling tax credits people use to buy health insurance from the ACA Marketplace (making insurance more expensive or unaffordable).
- Using harsher work requirements for people with Medicaid insurance (even though most working-age adults in Maine with Medicaid already work and those who aren’t often face significant barriers to employment including health challenges, caring for a loved one, and homelessness. In Maine, this would mean up to 67,000 people subject to harsh reporting requirements at risk of losing MaineCare.
- Requiring people with Medicaid to prove their eligibility every six months instead of every year (making it harder for states to manage the program and easier to take away insurance because of delays in processing paperwork).
- Requiring people with Medicaid to pay more for health care at the doctor.
- Slashing $630 million in Maine’s Medicaid funding to punish us for insuring kids and pregnant people regardless of where they’re from or their immigration status.
- Blocking Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and other family planning providers in Maine, even for care like cancer screenings and birth control.
- Eliminating coverage of certain types of gender-affirming care.
- Pausing a new federal rule about nursing home staffing, making long-term care less safe for older adults with Medicaid.
And remember, they’re doing all this to give more tax breaks to the rich!
That sounds bad. Anything else?
Yes, unfortunately the bills would also take food away from older Mainers, families with young children, and working Mainers with low incomes by attacking the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, called SNAP:
- They want harsher work requirements for older adults up to age 65 and parents with school-age children who use SNAP to buy groceries (even though most working-age adults who use SNAP already work or are temporarily between jobs). This puts 31,000 Mainers, mostly in rural parts of our state, at risk of losing food assistance.
- Forcing states, for the first time, to pay for part of the SNAP benefits. Taking food away from people is unpopular, so they’re sending the bill to states, knowing they probably can’t pay and will take the blame.
Yes, this is also to give tax breaks to the rich and big corporations! Low-wage, working families in Maine will see next to nothing from the tax cut provisions. For example, while the bill temporarily expands the maximum Child Tax Credit to $2,500, up to 20 million children in working families won't get the full credit because their families’ incomes are too low.
Bottom line? Leaders in Congress are going too far, too fast. Cutting over $700 billion in healthcare spending strips health coverage from almost 9 million people, including people fighting cancer, seniors in nursing homes, children, veterans, and people with disabilities. Taking $230 billion from SNAP will push more people into poverty and make it even harder for Maine people to buy groceries.
Don’t stay silent at this critical time–speak up!
If you want to dive even further into the numbers, you can read what our friends at the Maine Center for Economic Policy have written!
Maine Equal Justice focuses its work on many of the issues that affect people’s daily lives – access to adequate health care, housing, transportation and childcare; food and income security; and higher education and training. Maine Equal Justice is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization. Our EIN is 04-3346273. 