‘People are going to end up dying’: Healey warns as Republicans race to pass ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
By John L. Micek, MassLive
Already battered by federal funding cuts, states won’t be able to patch the holes that’ll be torn in the nation’s social safety net under the Republican budget bill now making its way across Capitol Hill, Gov. Maura Healey warned Wednesday.
“This Big Beautiful Bill is terrible,” the Democratic governor said during an appearance on GBH News’ “Boston Public Radio” program.
“ When you look at it, in total, what it’s going to do to healthcare, where 250,000 people in Massachusetts are going to lose coverage, nursing homes will close,” Healey told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagen.
“Community and rural hospitals are going to be at risk of closing. A whole bunch of vulnerable people are gonna be at risk, and people around the country are going to end up dying,” she said.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are scrambling to send the massive domestic policy mega-bill to President Donald Trump by the July 4 holiday.
Trump has been ramping up the pressure for lawmakers to get the bill on his desk.
“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.”
The debate on Capitol Hill also comes as legislative negotiators in Boston are trying to reach an agreement on a roughly $61.5 billion state budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1.
As it’s currently written, the “Big Beautiful Bill” slashes social programs, including Medicaid and food assistance, to pay for trillions of dollars in tax cuts that Democrats say will primarily benefit the richest Americans, even as it explodes the nation’s debt.
Leaders on Beacon Hill have been warning for months that, even with $8 billion in reserves, the state already doesn’t have the cash to make up for any of the federal funding it stands to lose from Washington.
That problem would become exponentially worse under the GOP-authored budget bill now on Capitol Hill, Democratic legislative leaders have warned.
All told, the Republican mega-bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $793 billion over 10 years.
Roughly 4.8 million people would be uninsured nationwide by 2034 based on work requirements in a version of the bill approved by U.S. House Republicans, CNBC reported, citing data by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
In Massachusetts, the bill would cost the state’s health care system $1.75 billion and strip coverage for about 250,000 people, according to Healey’s office.
Healey scoffed at those work requirements on Wednesday.
“These so-called ‘work requirements?’ — what people need to know, the people in Massachusetts who are on MassHealth? … Many of them are actually working. They’re the working poor, you know? They’re just trying to make a living.”
Healey delivered her warning in a back-to-back appearances on Wednesday.
Speaking to business and community leaders at a New England Council breakfast at the Omni Parker House on Beacon Hill earlier in the day, Healey cast the debate over Medicaid reductions as an economic issue.
“It’s a huge hit. And anybody who thinks they’re immune to a Medicaid cut, no,” she said. “People will still get sick. They will still go to hospitals. They will still need care. And we’re all gonna pay for it without the benefit of Medicaid.”
An hour later, during her appearance on GBH, Healey called on voters to pressure their elected leaders on Capitol Hill.
“ This is why people need to this week, do everything they can in lobbying … Republicans in Congress not to let this happen. Because no state can pick up the tab on the lost funding for healthcare, or for food support, or a whole bunch of things,” she said.