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A Republican senator cautioned on Monday that Congress may need to amend the law due to substantial Medicaid cuts included in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine expressed her concerns during the Global Health Innovation Forum at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, stating that as time progresses, lawmakers will feel increasing “pressure” to address the bill’s drastic Medicaid reductions.
While Collins endorsed other major elements of the bill, such as extending provisions from Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and enhancing Medicaid’s work requirements, she emphasized that the nearly $1 trillion cuts to Medicaid would negatively impact many Americans.
“They don’t go into effect next year; they go into effect the following year,” Collins remarked. “But a year is not going to make any difference at all, and I’m just very concerned that people who need the care aren’t going to get it.”
Collins warned that as Americans begin to suffer from deteriorating health due to delayed treatment from lack of coverage, lawmakers would need to reconsider the cuts approved in June.
“I don’t see the states having the ability to step up and fill the gap here. I just don’t. Even wealthy states,” she added. “As the implications of the bill become clearer, I think there will be tremendous pressure on Congress to change the law. But we will need the evidence, the stories, and the research that didn’t occur.”
Collins was one of only three Senate Republicans, alongside Sens. Rand Paul and Thom Tillis, to oppose the massive package in June, citing Medicaid cuts as her primary concern. She had previously informed Senate leaders and White House officials that she would not support the bill unless modifications were made.
She provided a list of ten issues she found problematic, including cuts affecting rural hospitals. Maine has 32 rural hospitals, and she noted that one recently closed. “We have five that are teetering on the brink of closure because they’re already in trouble, and the Medicaid reimbursements are not high enough,” she stated, highlighting challenges related to population changes.
Collins, along with other critics of the Medicaid cuts, including Sen. Josh Hawley, did secure a minor victory with the establishment of a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to help mitigate the broader cuts. She pledged to urge Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Mehmet Oz to expedite the distribution of that funding.
However, Collins expressed concern that in a state like Maine, where approximately 31% of the population relies on Medicaid, the cuts would force hospitals to bear more of the financial burden. “These cuts, I worry, are going to be devastating for states like Maine, for the people who rely on it,” she said. “A lot of those individuals are still going to show up in the hospital emergency room.”
“They won’t have been getting the care that they need to keep them out of the hospital emergency room,” she continued. “They’re going to arrive with their problems, and they won’t be covered by Medicaid, leading to uncompensated care for hospitals.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response but has not yet received a reply.
