The Republican’s harmful megabill, signed into law this past summer, makes significant cuts to health care, nutrition assistance, and other programs that help families meet basic needs. The legislation includes some of the largest proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history.
These changes would reshape health care and nutrition assistance across New York. An estimated 860,000 residents could lose health coverage due to cuts and the expiration of enhanced ACA premium tax credits. Another 760,000 people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage. About 318,000 residents may lose all or part of their SNAP benefits. The bill would also shift costs to the state, with New York potentially responsible for up to $1.09 billion per year in new SNAP expenses tied to federal cost-sharing requirements.
For many New York residents, these cuts threaten the fragile stability that programs like SNAP have provided in some of their most vulnerable moments. Lauren, a 35-year-old single mother of two girls in Syracuse, never imagined she would one day need government assistance. After leaving corporate America to raise her family, she found herself navigating an unexpected new reality when her marriage ended, suddenly the sole provider for her two daughters with no support system to fall back on. Now living in a shelter with her 5- and 8-year-old daughters, working as a geriatric companion care provider and pursuing her education, she has relied on SNAP since March just to keep her kids fed — stocking up on eggs, bacon, fruits, and the occasional mini croissants as a small treat for her girls. The shelter provides just one meal, four days a week, leaving Lauren to cover everything else on an income that doesn’t come close to keeping up with soaring grocery prices. For Lauren, SNAP has been, in her own words, ‘a breath of relief.’ For the 318,000 New Yorkers expected to lose all or part of their benefits, that breath is now being taken away.
Put simply, the bill’s provisions would affect working families who rely on the ACA marketplace, Medicaid recipients who depend on stable coverage, and households that use SNAP benefits to meet basic needs.
The harmful megabill reduces health care and food assistance while providing tax breaks to higher-income households. Instead of cutting services to fund tax breaks for the wealthy, lawmakers should ensure the wealthy pay their fair share and invest in programs that help families afford essentials like food and health care. Additionally, the House Republicans bills propose further cuts, including reductions to housing assistance funding that could affect families’ ability to maintain stable housing.
We urge Members of Congress to protect the millions who rely on these essential services by extending enhanced premium tax credits to prevent over 20 million Americans with Affordable Care Act health plans from seeing their premium costs skyrocket and opposing funding bills that further cut basic needs programs.
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