Medicare, Medicaid, and Project 2025:

Today marks the anniversary of the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid. Since their establishment in 1965, these programs have become critical components of the U.S. health care system, providing coverage to millions of Americans. These programs have improved health outcomes, public health, economic security, and advanced equity and social justice.

Medicare and Medicaid are crucial safety nets for the most vulnerable populations in our country, ensuring low-income individuals and families, including children, pregnant women, elderly adults, and people with disabilities have access to necessary preventive and emergency care.

These programs help protect beneficiaries from the high costs of care by covering hospital stays, physician services, prescription drugs, and preventative services — and support providers by reimbursing hospitals, physicians, and other professionals for the care they provide to enrollees.

I am committed to ensuring that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care for generations to come.

Despite their importance — the GOP has been attacking and undermining these programs for years. Whether it was their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act; their proposals of significant cuts to Medicaid by the billions and trillions; attempts at capping federal funding; ironic and inhumane work requirements; movements towards privatization; efforts to monetarily de-incentivize providers and hospitals that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients — the list goes on.

Now, in Project 2025 they outlined their latest ploy. Their plan seeks to:

1. Limit how much federal funding states may receive to help pay for Medicaid costs. These proposed caps would make it impossible for funding to keep pace with anticipated enrollment and costs of care, guaranteeing a significant cut to funding over time.
2. Set time limits on Medicaid coverage and impose lifetime caps on benefits. Project 2025 suggests that this will "disincentivize permanent dependence."
3. Allow states to adopt work requirements for people to receive benefits.
4. Create "more robust eligibility determinations" for people to qualify for coverage.

We cannot allow this to become the new standard. Millions of people are counting on us to get their basic health care needs met. Programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA are literally life-saving. 

Yours in the fight,

Jim