EVERETT, FEB. 20: Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Everett) hosted an emotional roundtable discussion with local healthcare providers and stakeholders to discuss the impact of potential cuts to Medicaid funding to Northwest Washington families.
Last week House Republicans released their budget resolution directing the committee that oversees Medicaid to cut at least $880 billion in spending and coverage over the next 10 years.
Larsen said that it is not possible to meet that target without cutting funding for Medicaid, a service that more than 130,000 constituents in the second congressional district depend on.
“It’s not pretend. Medicaid cuts will have real, negative impacts on moms, babies, seniors, children… I think that there are folks in Congress who don’t care that these cuts will have impacts, but these stories will help me make the case that they ought to care,” Larsen said to Everett Post.
Roughly 20% of the U.S. population is enrolled in Medicaid which is a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for people with limited income including women, children, seniors, and those with disabilities.
The state of Washington received more than $12.5 billion in federal Medicaid funding in 2023, which represents 57% of all federal funding to Washington.
President Trump told Fox News on Tuesday, Feb. 18, that he wouldn’t make cuts to Medicaid. But under the budget proposal from the House, the cuts are likely to impact Medicaid funding.
Trump showed his support for the House proposal on Wednesday by posting on social media, “House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVEREYTHING, not just parts of it!” he said.
Leaders from the Community Health Center (CHC) for Snohomish County, Unity Care Northwest, Community Health Plan of Washington, March of Dimes, SEIU 775 and other local healthcare leaders attended the roundtable Feb. 18 to share how potential cuts would impact their services.
CHC alone serves roughly 70,000 patients in Snohomish County, Chief Executive Officer Joe Vessey said.
“The magnitude of the cuts is just kind of overwhelming to even think about because there isn’t one or two specific responses or solutions that are available, and it would be something along the magnitude of catastrophic,” Vessey said.
Roughly 85% of CHC Snohomish County patients receive Medicaid coverage.
“We’re trying to prepare as best we can by increasing what I call financial fitness, knowing that whatever cuts come about in Congress 2025 are likely to trickle through our state budget in 2026.”
Liz Jennings with Community Action of Skagit County said that Medicaid funding is weaved into many services and removing it could be inefficient.
“Congress has charged us to weave together local, state, federal and private resources. That weave, as soon as you pull one thread of it, the rest of it kind of falls apart…” Jennings said.
There are 30 Community Action’s in Washington, and federal funding makes up 46% of their budget, Jennings said.
Jennings shared a story about a client named Joeb who used four different services that utilize Medicaid funding. The services provided helped Joeb recover from opioid addiction and homelessness, Jennings said.
“Take away any one of those things and the 63-year-old would still be on the street and many, many more will be on the street because it’s not just one program, it’s not just health insurance, it’s how all of these weave together…” Jennings said.
Many of the healthcare leaders agreed that cuts would cause a “domino effect” that would be “devastating”
Larsen plans to take these insights to Washington D.C. when the budget resolution comes in front of the House of Representatives within the month.
“Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. Having this knowledge of the impact of Medicaid cuts on people I serve and the patients they service gives me the ability to go back to Washington D.C. and be really clear it’s not esoteric,” Larsen said.
Larsen has been vocal in criticizing the current administration’s recent policies, holding a similar roundtable discussion last month about the local impacts of the potential funding freeze.
“All the efforts of this administration, whether its executive orders to freeze grants or to send out the DOGE Bros into agencies, is to do one thing: to scrape the federal budget for money that will help play for a $4.5 trillion-dollar tax cut to the richest Americans and the wealthiest corporations. It is not to cut spending,” Larsen said.
Corrected 2/24: A previous version had the incorrect county for a referenced organization. It attributed Community Action of Snohomish County, when the source is with Community Action of Skagit County.
