WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill passed into law by Congress early this month will severely impact Western Maryland’s access to health care and other beneficial programs, U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney said.
The White House described the 887-page bill as historic tax relief, delivering border security, funds for critical infrastructure and more.
The cost of these changes will come out of programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program while increasing the federal deficit, concerning Democratic lawmakers.
“This big bill is anything but beautiful,” said McClain Delaney, the representative of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which includes Allegany and Garrett counties. “In fact, I say, it will not make America great, but make America break. It’s really going to unleash a tsunami of cuts on Western Maryland.”
Her constituents are also concerned, she said.
“I’ve had over 125,000 people across the district reach out to me,” McClain Delaney said. “They’re really concerned about economic uncertainty.”
McClain Delaney said the package includes the largest cuts to Medicaid in the nation’s history.
“It’s going to hurt the health and well-being of our citizens. It’s going to hurt our health care system,” McClain Delaney said.
Maryland Medicaid is the state’s largest and most effective anti-poverty program, according to a report from the Maryland Department of Health.
As of March, more than 22,000 people in Allegany County were enrolled in Medicaid to access hospital care, primary care offices, prescription drugs and more, according to the report. In Garrett County, 8,256 people were enrolled.
The changes to Medicaid include placing limits on grants, work requirements and requiring more frequent eligibility checks, according to the report.
“Such changes would cut Medicaid funding, make it harder to access health care, reduce payments to providers, and stall economic growth,” the report said.
The cuts will cause an extreme drop in Medicare enrollment and could negatively impact health care services in Western Maryland, McClain Delaney said.
“Over 32,000 people in my district are going to lose coverage under Medicaid … but, most importantly, that’s going to cascade onto the hospitals and health care centers across Western Maryland,” McClain Delaney said.
Losing patients could make it harder for medical centers to stay operational, she said.
“Almost 21 cents of every Medicaid dollar received is now going to be cut, so that could accelerate closures,” McClain Delaney said. “We might have some of our rural health care clinics and mental health facilities close.”
Officials from UPMC Western Maryland did not share the percent of patients who rely on Medicaid to receive care at the hospital.
“We remain committed to supporting access to essential care for all our patients across the communities we serve,” UPMC officials said.
Along with cuts to Medicaid, the bill makes big cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people.
The Urban Institute estimated that 369,000 Maryland families will lose eligibility, sparking McClain Delaney’s worry over how many will access food, especially kids.
“I don’t believe that anybody should go hungry, but particularly not kids,” McClain Delaney said.
Cuts to the program will have economic consequences as well, McClain Delaney said.
“For every dollar that we pay into SNAP, we actually get $1.50 back to our economy,” McClain Delaney said.
“Farmers in Western Maryland sell their crops into SNAP. Our truckers transport these crops, and our grocery stores (accept) SNAP.”
On top of these concerns, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the package will raise the national deficit by $3.4 trillion over the next decade.
“It costs more long term. It costs more short term,” McClain Delaney said. “I’m a big believer that we do have to deal with our deficit.”
Despite the difficulties to come, McClain Delaney said, lawmakers across the state plan to work together to address these issues.
“We do have a very close-knit federal delegation that lifts up together and tries to help one another across the state and leverage both state, county and federal resources as efficiently as we can,” McClain Delaney said.
“That’s not true in all states.”