Medicaid Cuts Will Harm Rural Republican Communities Most

Though President Trump promised a “big beautiful” budget bill, what narrowly passed the House of Representatives in the early morning hours of May 22 will be anything but a big beautiful win for millions of marginalized Americans, and Medicaid beneficiaries won’t be the only ones who feel the pinch. 

In fact, if passed, this legislation would destabilize the publicly insured and privately insured alike, especially in America’s many rural communities.

Trump’s budget dramatically reduces the robustness of the federal social safety net, on which three in ten Americans (including nearly half of children) rely for critical programs ranging from health care to food security. Most drastically, the bill is set to cut Medicaid by nearly $800 billion over 10 years, add burdensome and ineffective work requirements and kick as many as 13 million people off their health insurance.