PAN submits letter to Senate urging opposition to 2025 budget reconciliation package
The PAN Foundation submitted a letter to Senate Majority Leader Thune and Senate Minority Schumer expressing grave concern for the changes to Medicaid and health insurance marketplace plans proposed in the budget reconciliation package for 2025.
As of 2024, nearly 72 million Americans—one in five—were enrolled in Medicaid. For many, including individuals with disabilities, people with limited incomes, and older adults, Medicaid serves as their sole lifeline to care. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), if the House health provisions in H.R. 1 are enacted, nearly 10.9 million Americans could lose their health insurance. The Senate proposal of June 16 and under negotiation includes health provisions that if enacted could result in deeper losses in health coverage. Further, if Congress also allows the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits to expire at the end of this year, the CBO estimates that number could climb to nearly 16 million by 2034.
Despite its stated goal of reducing federal spending, proposed cuts, and structural changes to Medicaid contained in the reconciliation measure would fuel a health care crisis and ultimately drive costs even higher, including through new cost sharing requirements for patients. Shifting financial burdens to states, patients, and providers without adequate federal support would flood emergency departments, increase uncompensated care, and push an already strained health care workforce to its brink. Millions would lose access to critical medications and treatments to manage chronic diseases and other conditions, leading to poorer health outcomes and undermining years of federal investment in disease management and prevention.
These devastating consequences would ultimately leave Americans sicker, imperil health systems of all sizes, increase medical debt and the need for catastrophic health spending, erode the nation’s workforce productivity, and contribute to preventable suffering, disability, and premature death.
The PAN Foundation strongly urges the Senate to reject these shortsighted cuts to safeguard the health and economic security of millions of Americans, their families, and the businesses that depend on a healthy workforce. Additionally, we urge you to extend funding for the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits before the end of the year. This extension is essential to avoid preventable lapses in coverage for beneficiaries and allow time for Congress to develop a long-term policy solution—one that reflects stakeholder input and provides a stable, sustainable path to care, not a sudden coverage cliff.
Read PAN’s letter to the Senate