Congressman Chris Pappas Fights to Protect Medicaid and Food Assistance for Granite Staters

Strategic Insights -

Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH) has filed two amendments to the Senate-passed Republican reconciliation bill to protect access to Medicaid and food assistance for Granite Staters. The amendments aim to prevent Congress from passing the burden of cuts to these programs onto the state and to protect families struggling to make ends meet from having their access to care and healthy nutrition ripped away. Pappas believes that the bill is a betrayal of working families and that it will destabilize New Hampshire's health care system. He urges his colleagues on the Rules Committee to support the amendments.

Key Takeaways:

  • Congressman Chris Pappas has filed two amendments to the Senate-passed Republican reconciliation bill to protect access to Medicaid and food assistance for Granite Staters.
  • The first amendment would strike new limitations that will severely restrict the amount of funding states can direct toward Medicaid, which creates significant budget gaps for Medicaid and kicks people off their health insurance.
  • The second amendment would strike from the bill provisions that create cost-sharing requirements for states for SNAP, requiring states to cover a portion of SNAP benefits and potentially cutting benefits.
  • Pappas's amendments aim to prevent Congress from passing the burden of cuts to Medicaid and food assistance onto the state and to protect families struggling to make ends meet from having their access to care and healthy nutrition ripped away.
  • Pappas believes that the bill is a betrayal of working families and that it will destabilize New Hampshire's health care system.
  • Providers have shared with Pappas how the Medicaid provisions will rip health care coverage away from more Granite Staters, strain resources at clinics and hospitals, and destabilize the state's health care system.

Statistics:

  • The Senate-passed Republican reconciliation bill would severely restrict the amount of funding states can direct toward Medicaid, creating significant budget gaps for Medicaid.
  • The new limitations included in the bill would kick people off their health insurance, potentially destabilizing the state's health care system.
  • The cost-sharing requirements for states for SNAP would require states to cover a portion of SNAP benefits and potentially cut benefits, affecting families struggling to make ends meet.

Sources:

  • United States House of Representatives