U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is decrying the loss of affordable health care coverage due to cuts in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Low and middle income New York residents are expected to lose access to the Essential Plan.
The “Big Beautiful Bill,” which was signed into law last summer, cut $7.5 billion in annual funding for the Essential Plan. The Plan offers $0 monthly premiums, no deductibles, and low co-pays for working families who meet certain income thresholds but do not qualify for Medicaid. Because of the cuts, an estimated 450,000 New Yorkers are losing access to their Essential Plan coverage as of July 1. 13,682 of those residents are in 23rd Congressional District, which includes Chautauqua County. Those residents will either be forced to purchase more expensive coverage or go without coverage at all.
Also, ranking member Gillibrand led her Democratic colleagues on the Senate Aging Committee in demanding answers about the impact of Trump’s Medicaid cuts on seniors and people with disabilities.
The “Big Beautiful Bill Act” slashed Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion. In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the senators demanded answers about exactly how these cuts will hurt Americans and about what cuts have already been made.
According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the cuts in the “Big Beautiful Bill” will result in 7.5 million more people becoming uninsured by 2034. New York alone is facing $63 billion in Medicaid funding cuts by 2034—the second largest cut in the nation. According to Governor Kathy Hochul’s office, this could cause 1.5 million New Yorkers to lose their health coverage and tens of thousands of New York healthcare professionals to lose their jobs.
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