Please call your Representative in Congress ASAP with the message of “Vote No” on the drastic cuts in the current proposed Budget Reconciliation Bill. As it stands right now, this Bill will cut $715 Billion in health care spending over the next 10 years – that’s Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. 13.7 million people would lose health insurance. In addition, the proposal would cut $300 Billion nationwide in SNAP (Wisconsin calls it FoodShare) over the next decade. Two-thirds of the people who use SNAP/Foodshare in Wisconsin are also Medicaid participants. These cuts are being enacted in order to give tax breaks to those least in need.

Wisconsin’s Medicaid program supports 1.2 million (18%) of Wisconsinites who rely on Medicaid for health, mental health, and in-home or facility based long term care, including children, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, low-income workers, low-income pregnant women, and low-income older adults who rely on Medicaid for health and long-term care. The largest group of people covered by Medicaid are kids, including kids with special health care needs and disabilities.

Today, most able-bodied adult Medicaid members are already employed, while many others are full-time students, caregivers, or individuals with health conditions that prevent them from working. By implementing complex and burdensome reporting requirements, many working adults could be disenrolled — not because they are idle, but because of administrative hurdles. Seasonal workers, service industry employees, and those with irregular work hours are particularly at risk, as they may struggle to consistently document their employment or secure exemptions, putting them at risk of losing vital coverage without realistic alternatives.

While the final details and specific impacts on Wisconsin are not yet certain, these proposed cuts—which would include mandatory work verification requirements or job loss penalties, cost-sharing, and more frequent benefit eligibility checks—would impose significant barriers to care, leave many people uninsured, ensure worse health outcomes, impose higher health care costs, and put an incredible strain on Wisconsin’s state budget. Health care and long-term care workers and providers (in the case of Medicaid) and farmers who grow and sell food (FoodShare) will be impacted by these cuts.

These decisions are being fast tracked at all hours of the day and night. Once the final vote is taken in the House (this week likely), the Senate will take up the Bill. Senators will be watching how people react to the House’s spending cut ideas. Contact your Senators Johnson and Baldwin and tell them how vital Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and Foodshare are to everyday people in Wisconsin. Tell them to remove the cuts. Share this information with your friend/family/organizational contacts (even those out-of-state). Tell your personal stories if you have them. The stakes are high.

Thank you to the Wisconsin Medicaid Coalition whose members have compiled and kept this information as up-to-date as possible.