Congressman Greg Stanton told a group of health care leaders he expects the incoming Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress could make sweeping cuts to the country’s health care safety net.
“It is going to be a battle,” Stanton said during a round table event at Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix on Friday.
President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for health care is unclear, but some Republicans in Congress have signaled they are ready to slash budgets for Medicaid programs and subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace health plans.
Stanton, a Democrat, argues those cuts wouldn’t actually save the U.S. government money.
“The long-term impact on human health and quality of life and on the cost of care — there’s no doubt that if you don’t provide that preventative care that the long-term costs are much, much greater,” Stanton said.
Arizona is one of 41 states that opted to expand eligibility for Medicaid following the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Stanton said the hundreds of thousands of lower-income or disabled Arizonans who gained access to coverage through that expansion would stand to lose health care if funding for the program is cut.
Health care industry leaders told Stanton they would struggle to meet patients’ needs or stay financially afloat if Medicaid or Affordable Care Act programs were reduced.
“I will tell you, as far as the public safety net hospitals that rely on that — devastating,” said Steve Purves, president and CEO of Valleywise Health.
