House Budget Resolution Sets Stage for Medicaid Debate

Framework directs lawmakers to find $880 billion in cuts in committee overseeing Medicaid

February 26, 2025

House Republicans last evening adopted their fiscal budget blueprint, marking another step in the process that will ultimately determine the future of Medicaid.

The bill was approved along party lines 217–215, with Representative Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) as the lone dissenting vote in the majority party. The passage clears the way for Republican lawmakers in both chambers to reconcile their respective plans as part of the broader effort to implement President Trump’s domestic agenda.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The issue:  The House and Senate blueprints take different approaches, with the House plan including $4.5 trillion to extend tax cuts and $1.5 trillion in spending to partially offset those cuts.
  • The Senate version is smaller but does not address the tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year. It does include additional funding for immigration enforcement and defense spending.
• Key details:  The House blueprint instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify $880 billion in spending reductions that could come from Medicaid and other health programs.
• Our advocacy:  Last week, HAP sent a letter calling on Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to support Medicaid and reject harmful proposals that harm access to care.
• Quotable:  “On behalf of more than 235 hospitals and health systems serving millions of Pennsylvanians, please reject budget and reconciliation proposals that threaten health care coverage and drastically reduce funding that hospitals rely on to care for their communities and—in many cases—remain viable,” the letter said.

HAP continues to put concerns about potential cuts to Medicaid in front of lawmakers, while highlighting the devasting effects these cuts would have on hospitals and patients. For more information about HAP’s federal advocacy, contact John Myers, vice president, federal advocacy.