2 days ago
Opinion: Budget bill's Medicaid cuts hurt all Utahns
One Big Beautiful Bill, or One Big Budget Bust? This one act of legislation will affect everyone, not just those on Medicaid. Even if you don't think cuts to Medicaid will affect you, they will, and not in a good way.
This legislation will ultimately decrease the health of Utahns, inadvertently increase the cost of healthcare and increase wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.
The 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' includes provisions that slash Medicaid coverage through the guise of work/education requirements. While this may sound like a great way to increase accountability for Medicaid enrollees, this is costly to states and is confusing for enrollees.
When Arkansas implemented Medicaid work and reporting requirements in 2018, enrollees reported both confusion and misunderstanding about what was required. Due to these requirements, 18,000 individuals, or 25% of enrollees, lost their insurance coverage. Researchers in 2020 looked at the impact of Arkansas' program and found that the loss of coverage led to poorer medication adherence, delays in receiving care and increased medical debt.
In 2019, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) — a federal office that provides fact-based, non-partisan information used to improve government spending and save taxpayers billions of dollars — estimated that state expansion of Medicaid work/education requirements would cost anywhere from under $10 million to over $250 million just on administrative costs. Accounting for inflation, this alone can cost Utah anywhere from about $13 million to $310 million just to set up this program.
While this cost may be partially covered by the federal government, this has proven to be a waste of government spending. In one year of Georgia's implementation of a similar program, their own state Medicaid agency reported that it cost both state and federal taxpayers a combination of $40 million, with 80% of it going towards administrative costs rather than medical care. If implemented in our state, which prides itself on being fiscally responsible, removing red tape and deregulation, adding additional work/education requirements goes against these core beliefs.
Hidden in the 'Big Beautiful Bill' are provisions to cut Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Programs by $3.5 billion, claiming this work 'can be conducted [and funded] more effectively by States,' according to the Fiscal Year 2026 budget request. States would need to develop programs and funding for employees to assist in this goal of shifting from the federal focus to state focus at the taxpayers' expense. Additionally, the budget includes provisions that block federal funding for preventive care at facilities offering family planning, reproductive health and related medical services. By blocking funding to these facilities, the healthcare system will shift from prevention to crisis response.
Important public health research is also on the 'Big Beautiful Bill' chopping block. As the president proposes almost $18 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the United States' medical research arm — projects will lose ground and become stagnant.
You may be asking yourself, why does this matter to me? What if I have commercial insurance? Why should I care about research?
The damaging effects of these budget cuts touch every aspect of society, creating a domino effect. These policies don't operate in isolation — they compound each other, ultimately raising costs, lowering care quality and destabilizing institutions relied upon by people across the income spectrum.
Millions will lose access to primary, routine and preventive care. Conditions will go undetected and unmanaged, especially among children, women and people with chronic illnesses.
Hospitals — especially children's hospitals and safety-net facilities — will absorb more unpaid care. This reduces operating margins and strains staff and resources.
Hospitals will increase charges to private insurers to recoup losses. This drives up insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for middle-income families and employers.
Fewer pediatricians, OB/GYNs and community health providers will stay in underfunded or unstable systems. Burnout and turnover will rise, especially in high-need communities.
Biomedical research will come to a standstill, jeopardizing our ability to find new cures for debilitating diseases like cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's.
These cuts harm the entire healthcare system, threatening access, affordability and quality of care for everyone, regardless of insurance status. Protect your health by contacting your senators and telling them to block this One Big Budget Bust.
