Congress should oppose efforts to cut funding or create additional enrollment barriers for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 112 organizations across Alabama wrote in a letter to Alabama’s congressional delegation this week.
“We write to request respectfully that, in your deliberations about federal budget and tax policy, you ensure that Congress protects the health and nutrition safety net that keeps so many Alabama children fed and healthy and that helps so many Alabamians make ends meet,” the groups wrote.
The organizations sent the letter before the U.S. House voted Tuesday night to pass a budget resolution that could set the stage for more than $1 trillion of cuts to health coverage and food assistance over the next decade. That vote was one step in a multi-part budget process. The House and Senate still must agree on an identical budget resolution, after which lawmakers would begin to specify funding cuts to meet its numerical targets.
Congressional leaders are considering cuts to health coverage, food assistance and other human services in a push to offset the cost of tax cuts for wealthy households. The amount of potential Medicaid and SNAP cuts in the House budget resolution would be roughly equal to the cost of extending tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% of households, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit research and policy institute in Washington, D.C.
Alabama Arise is among 112 organizations that signed the letter to the state’s two U.S. senators and seven U.S. representatives. Read the full letter here.
Medicaid cuts and new barriers would harm Alabama families and rural communities
Medicaid is at risk of deep federal funding cuts or caps during this process. The federal-state health insurance program for people with low incomes is essential to Alabama’s economy and health care infrastructure. Medicaid covers 1 in 5 Alabamians, almost all of whom are children, older adults, or people with disabilities. At $6.8 billion, Medicaid also is the largest source of federal funds in Alabama’s budget.
Federal Medicaid cuts would undermine health care access for children, pregnant women and nursing home residents, Arise and partners wrote. Cuts also would strain the state’s General Fund budget and further imperil rural hospitals and clinics, the letter said. In addition, Congress is considering new work reporting requirements that, along with potential funding cuts, could strip health coverage from as many as 1 in 5 Alabamians enrolled in Medicaid.
“Any cuts to federal Medicaid funding, restrictive policies aimed at encouraging disenrollment just to reduce costs, or caps that limit the ability of federal funding to keep pace with inflation would directly impact more than 1 million Alabama children and families,” the organizations wrote. “Such cuts would damage our communities, devastate our state budget and weaken Alabama’s economy.”
The letter highlighted some of Medicaid’s many benefits to Alabama:
- Pediatric care for half of all Alabama children, including the majority of children with intensive health care needs.
- Perinatal care for half of Alabama pregnant mothers and their babies.
- Long-term services and supports for 3 in 4 nursing home residents, and for most children and adults who receive nursing care at home.
- The leading source of health insurance in rural communities, and an essential source of funding for hard-pressed rural hospitals and clinics.
- Direct grants to hospitals to sustain costly services, such as neonatal intensive care units, which serve their entire communities.
SNAP cuts would increase hunger and hardship across Alabama
SNAP is also at risk of harmful cuts as Congress continues the budget process. The program provides vital, federally funded nutrition assistance to about 1 in 7 Alabamians — more than 750,000 people. More than 2 in 3 households that participate in SNAP are families with children. Many other participants are older adults or people with disabilities.
The letter from Arise and partner organizations called SNAP “the most effective anti-hunger program in the United States.” SNAP’s role in reducing hunger is especially important in Alabama and other states with high poverty rates. Nearly 1 in 4 Alabama children face food insecurity, meaning they do not always have enough to eat or know where they will get their next meal. Funding cuts or other new barriers to SNAP enrollment would increase hunger and hurt local retailers, the groups’ letter said.
“In a time of persistently higher food prices, [SNAP] is more important than ever,” the organizations wrote. “Every dollar of federal SNAP funding not only affords families the necessary nutrition, but it also helps stimulate local economies.”
Potential Medicaid and SNAP cuts would help fund tax breaks for the wealthiest households
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted in 2017, increased federal deficits by nearly $2 trillion while lavishing tax cuts on the country’s wealthiest households. Many of the law’s provisions are set to expire this year, including numerous tax breaks that disproportionately benefit wealthy people. These include higher estate tax exemptions and a cut to the top marginal income tax rate. Other provisions are permanent and not up for renewal, including a 40% reduction of the corporate income tax rate. This tax break overwhelmingly benefits large, highly profitable corporations.
Proposals to renew and expand these tax breaks would be similarly skewed in favor of the wealthiest Americans. The White House’s proposed tax plan would lead on average to “a tax cut for the richest 5% of Americans and a tax increase for the other 95% of Americans,” according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit tax policy research organization in Washington, D.C.
More resources
Read the full Feb. 25 letter from Alabama Arise and 111 partner organizations urging Alabama’s congressional delegation to oppose cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
View a full breakdown of federal funds that Alabama received in FY 2024.
Read the Feb. 10 statement from Alabama Arise urging Congress to reject harmful cuts to health coverage, school meals and other human services.
Read the Jan. 29 letter from Alabama Arise and 55 partner organizations urging Alabama’s congressional delegation to oppose further tax cuts for wealthy people.
