DataPoint: Federal Cuts to Medicaid Could Have Serious Implications for NYS Enrollees
(April 22, 2025) The U.S. House of Representatives voted to adopt the Senate-amended version of the budget resolution on April 10th which instructed the House Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce the federal deficit by at least $880 billion over 10 years. The math is conclusive: major cuts to Medicaid are the only viable avenue to achieve the House’s budget resolution requirements, and the magnitude of these cuts is equivalent to all Medicaid spending on 3 million seniors and people with disabilities (18 percent of enrollees in that group), 14 million other adults (38 percent of that group), or 22 million children enrolled in Medicaid (76 percent of that group). Similarly, federal cuts of $880 billion over 10 years would represent 29 percent of state-financed Medicaid spending per resident. The magnitude of these cuts was recently put into context by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in a brief titled “Putting $880 Billion in Potential Federal Medicaid Cuts in Context of State Budget and Coverage.” The brief explores the implications of federal funding cuts under the House budget resolution and puts the $880 billion in context by comparing the size of the cuts to states’ tax revenues, educational expenditures, and the sum of Medicaid enrollees covered for said cost. The brief goes on to observe how decreasing the deficit by $88 billion per year would represent 29 percent of state Medicaid spending per resident, 6 percent of state taxes per resident, or 19 percent of state education spending per pupil. The implications of budget cuts on NYS are particularly worrisome, with the State needing to reconcile with losing $10 billion each year in federal Medicaid dollars, which would result in a $400 cut per resident, which represents 20 percent of the average spend per Medicaid enrollee. Across the U.S., the federal cuts per resident range from $100 to $700, representing anywhere from 17 to 59 percent in state Medicaid spending per resident. To read the full brief from KFF, click here.
Contact: Eric Dumas, edumas@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8851