With the cost of living top of mind for many voters, lawmakers are continuing to weigh how to increase health care affordability while protecting access to care.
During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week, Representative Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) said that although she supports efforts to lower health care costs, the policies enacted by President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress are “actively harming providers and patients.”
“For an administration that claims it wants to make America healthy again, the actions prove the opposite,” Rep. Fletcher said. “It is doing everything but that, and not making us healthier, but making it more difficult and more expensive to access health care.
With her district representing a handful of medical providers, Rep. Fletcher said she still hears from concerned constituents about how the One Big Beautiful bill continues to affect their insurance and health care access.
“Between the cuts to Medicaid and the expiration of the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, it's estimated that nearly 15 million people will lose access to healthcare,” she said.
Rep. Fletcher said these cuts have forced providers to make up for uncompensated care costs in other areas of the healthcare system, leading to mass layoffs of staff, reduced healthcare services and longer wait times for patients.
“When more people are uninsured and underinsured, it drives up costs,” she said. “It drives up the costs for uncompensated care.”
Rep. Fletcher added that this also increases costs for patients, both financially and in terms of their health.
“This will likely result in many Americans delaying or forgoing care altogether,” Rep. Fletcher said. “And when people delay or forego care, that is harmful for their health and for the health of our communities.”
