ICYMI: On 60th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, Pappas Held Listening Session with Local Advocates, Patients, and Providers
To mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) hosted a listening session at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Manchester with local health care providers, patients, and community members to discuss the importance of these programs, especially amid attacks and cuts to these programs by Republicans in Congress and the Trump Administration. Under the Big, Ugly Law, more than 15 million Americans will lose their coverage, hospitals will close, and people have fewer options to get the health care they need.
“Medicaid and Medicare matter to each and every one of us, and Granite Staters continue to speak out about the importance of these foundational programs. They ensure hardworking people can get the care they need at a cost they can afford, they support hospitals and nursing homes in our communities, and they keep costs down throughout the health care system,” said Congressman Pappas. “The Big, Ugly Law that President Trump and House Republicans passed devastates these programs, taking health care away from 15 million Americans and triggering $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. I’ll continue listening to Granite Staters and fighting for Medicare, Medicaid, and everything that matters to them in Congress.”
President Trump and Republicans’ Big, Ugly Law made deep cuts to health care and food programs for working families to cover the cost of $5 trillion in tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. It will leave an estimated 15 million Americans uninsured, including more than 46,000 Granite Staters; trigger $500 billion in cuts to Medicare; increase monthly out-of-pocket costs for families and leave more Americans with overwhelming medical debt; defund Planned Parenthood, leaving more than 1.1 million women without access to needed care like cancer screenings and birth control; and kick millions of Americans off SNAP, leaving them unable to put food on the table – all to give tax breaks to billionaires and big Pharma.
Background:
In response to the passage of the Republicans’ reconciliation bill, Pappas and the New Hampshire delegation held a press conference at Waypoint to highlight the harmful impacts of the bill on New Hampshire. Last week Pappas met with staff and residents of Hillsborough County Nursing Home to discuss the Republican’s law and its devastating cuts to Medicaid funding will harm New Hampshire nursing homes and patient care.
Pappas voted against Republicans’ reconciliation bill every timeit came to the floor. Pappas filed two amendments to the Senate-passed Republican reconciliation bill to protect Granite Staters’ access to Medicaid and food assistance and to prevent Congress from passing the burden of cuts to these programs onto the state; neither was adopted.
In February, Pappas held a roundtable with New Hampshire health care advocates and community leaders to highlight the devastating impact the Republican budget would have on New Hampshire residents’ access to health care and local community health centers’ ability to serve their patients. In April, he held another discussion to highlight the negative impact the legislation would have on people who access care through the Medicaid program and New Hampshire’s Medicaid Expansion. Pappas spoke on the floor several times in opposition to the reconciliation bill and on behalf of his constituents on Medicaid and SNAP.