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Help Protect Medicaid

 

The Senate is considering deep cuts to Medicaid — threatening care for veterans, seniors, rural hospitals, and working families.

 

HERE IS WHAT IS HAPPENING:

Congress proposed $880 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years at the national level as part of the budget reconciliation process. The Energy and Commerce Committee did a mark-up of the bill on May 13th and 14th (pushed date from May 7th): 2025 Medicaid Cuts.Proposal Summary. On May 22, the House passed a budget reconciliation bill (see Summary of Medicaid Provisions from KFF) significantly altering Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, with additional impacts on Medicare and Health Savings Accounts.

!! The Senate is now considering H.R.1. and has released its version along with the Senate Finance Committee's proposal. They are moving fast, so we need to move faster !!

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SENATE VERSION: You can view the full summary from the California Medical Association (CMA) HERE.

  • It doubles the Medicaid provider tax cuts up to $400 billion: There are significant cut proposals to healthcare funding by reducing provider taxes from 6% to 3.5% in 41 Medicaid expansion states, starting in 2027. It also limits State Directed Payments to Medicare rates (or 110% in non-expansion states), with annual 10% reductions. These changes, which largely exempt nursing homes, would be devastating to millions of Americans' health coverage, physician practices, and hospitals—especially public hospitals. The bill also continues a moratorium on new provider taxes or increases and mandates uniform tax levels. The $400 billion in provider tax cuts will create substantial gaps in state Medicaid budgets, forcing states to raise taxes or cut hospital, clinic, nursing home and physician payments and reduce services and coverage for Medicaid recipients.
    • Provider taxes are legitimate, crucial, and federally approved financing mechanism used by states, are crucial. They've kept rural hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and physicians afloat, ensuring patient access through pandemics, recessions, and disasters.
  • It fails to address Medicare physician payment: The Senate Finance Committee removed the 2.25% Medicare physician payment update for 2026 from HR 1. While the bill didn't restore 2024 payment levels until 2030, it did establish a partial annual inflation update. Congress's ongoing failure to fully fix chronic Medicare physician under-payments and the resulting patient access issues is devastating for seniors, physician practices, and the U.S. healthcare system.
  • It continues the student loan cuts: It caps medical education borrowing at $150,000 (well below the $250,000 average medical debt) and eliminates counting non-profit hospital residency hours for loan forgiveness, creating significant barriers to medical school.
  • It continues the significant Medicaid and ACA cuts in H.R.1: H.R. 1 would result in coverage losses for 16 million Medicaid and ACA recipients. There are no estimates yet for the Senate bill, however, it is estimated that the total cuts to Medicaid in the Senate bill are more than $900 billion.

There are many members of the House and Senate that are concerned with the Senate's version, including the provider tax cut provisions. The Montana Medical Association will sign-on to a letter from the CMA that urges Congress to find more balanced solutions to reforming Medicaid while protecting the nation’s health and well-being. It also asks Congress to address physician workforce shortages by stopping the student loan cuts, addresses Medicare physician payment cuts, and provides an annual inflation update to ensure stability and patient access to care.  

You can view the American Medical Association's letter to Senate leadership, which breaks down the hot topic points for physicians, medical students, and patients and provides comments for consideration:

AMA LETTER

VIEW: Resources from Healthy Montana's Virtual Roundtable

What does the "Big Beautiful Bill" mean for Montanans, Medicaid, and Montanans on Medicaid? You can view the slides from the Healthy Montana's virtual roundtable:

VIEW SLIDES

Note: The roundtable webinar occured prior to the Senate Finance Committee version was released.

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP: 

TEXT OR EMAIL MONTANA'S ELECTED OFFICIALS DIRECTLY: 

The voices of Montanans will be the loudest on the matter of Medicaid and all that is at risk of being cut. We urge you to write directly to Senator Daines and Senator Sheehy. We have composed messaging for your reference and use in this effort: See MMA VoterVoice advocacy center for messaging and contact information. This initiative will be the most crucial in getting Montana's voice heard! 

 

TEXT CAMPAIGN: Medicaid Is Under Threat. You Can Help Protect It — One Text at a Time. 

We’ve partnered with the Protect Our Health Care Coalition on a national voter-to-voter texting campaign to stop these cuts. One of the most effective tools in advocacy is texting — and it depends on real people like you. You’ll help send messages to voters in targeted congressional districts, urging them to call their Senators using a simple link in the text. These messages must be sent by a live person — they cannot be automated. That’s why your help is essential.

  1. Step 1: Create Your Account (2 Minutes): Click here to request an account set-up link » protectourhealthcare.org/join

    • After submitting this form, you’ll be added to the system. Please check the email address you provided for a message from “Protect Our Health Care” with instructions to set up your account. If you don’t receive the email within a few hours, contact info@protectourhealthcare.org for support. Please capitalize the first letters of your first and last name, ensuring there are no typos. The way you enter your information will be directly merged into the copy of the text to personalize each send.
    • **All texts are sent through RumbleUp’s secure platform. Your personal phone number or messaging service is never used to contact voters.

  2. Step 2: Start Texting (2 Minutes):

    • After creating your account you’ll get a welcome email from RumbleUp and it will include your Project Password so you can access your texting assignments

    • Watch this 2-minute video on how to start texting: How to Start Texting » www.protectourhealthcare.org/how-to-text

  3. Step 3: Save Medicaid (Worth Every Minute)

    Your personal texting dashboard may say there are no texts available to send — but don’t worry. That just means your personalized texts are still loading. Keep refreshing the page during the first 15 minutes and your assignments will appear. You will have texts to send right away — just give the system a moment to catch up.

    • This campaign runs on real volunteers — and your help can make the difference. Thank you for standing up for Medicaid and the communities that depend on it.

Need help or have questions? Contact the volunteer coordinators directly at info@protectourhealthcare.org.

 

SHARE YOUR STORY: 

The MMA wants to hear your Medicaid story and how the program has helped you or someone in your community. We will use your experience as a blurb in upcoming campaign materials across MMS platforms including emails, texts, and social media. 

We also welcome your perspective through your professional and personal experience to be shared in community media outlets. Provide us an Op-Ed: send to mma@mmaoffice.org, and we will share it with Montana news outlets that serve your community(s). 

 

STAY INFORMED AND LET MMA KNOW YOU'RE ON BOARD:

If you have ideas on how we can unite together in the fight for Medicaid or you would like to be a part of upcoming initiatives in a more hands-on capacity, reach out to MMA at mma@mmaoffice.org to let us know!

View the Medicaid in Montana Fact Sheet