LWVUS Joins Letter to Congress Opposing Medicaid Cuts

The League of Women Voters of the United States joined a sign-on letter urging Congress to oppose cuts to Medicaid to help prevent medical debt.

April 29, 2025 

Dear Members of Congress:  

On behalf of 183 state and national advocates concerned about the medical debt crisis in our country, we write to express our strong opposition to Medicaid cuts. Medicaid plays a vital role in preventing medical debt by offering affordable health coverage to almost 80 million individuals and decreasing their likelihood of experiencing financial strain. We urge you to do everything in your power to protect this critical program.  

About 100 million U.S. adults have unpaid medical or dental bills, or about 41 percent of adults. This debt is not just a financial burden; it has serious health implications. About two-thirds of those with medical debt have put off care that they or a family member needed because of costs. Medical debt is associated with mental health issues like depression and anxiety, as well as foregoing needed mental health care.  

Medicaid protects patients from medical debt and improves their overall financial well-being. One analysis found that 79 out of the 100 counties with the highest levels of medical debt were in states that had not expanded Medicaid. By contrast, new medical debt dropped by 34 percentage points more in states that expanded Medicaid as compared with states that did not. Medicaid expansion has also been shown to reduce bills sent to collections and to decrease bankruptcy filings.  

Significantly, Medicaid is especially effective at protecting those most vulnerable from medical debt. For instance, Medicaid is a key source of coverage for people with disabilities, 15 million of whom rely on Medicaid. Given their substantial medical costs, people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to report medical debt as those without disabilities. With most people with disabilities lacking access to employer-based coverage, cuts to Medicaid would prove especially harmful to this population.   

Likewise, Medicaid provides health coverage for over 17 million people over age 50. This includes 6.5 million older adults enrolled in the Medicare Savings Programs, which cover all or part of the premiums and cost-sharing requirements for Medicare. Medicaid also helps families pay for quality nursing home care. Currently, over one in five older adults has medical debt, and that number will increase significantly if current Medicaid benefits do not remain in place.   

Medicaid is the largest payor for long-term care in the country, which allows older adults to live independently in their community by providing assistance with essential life tasks such as eating, bathing, and dressing. Significantly, Medicaid is also the primary source of support for many caregivers, including over 53 million U.S. adults who provide ongoing, complex care for loved ones with disabilities or health care needs. Nearly half of caregivers report financial strain, and any cuts to Medicaid threaten both their wellbeing and their important caregiving work.  

Medicaid also covers more than 40 percent of births in the United States and insures more than 16 million women of reproductive age. New mothers are already twice as likely as women who have not recently given birth to have medical debt, and this disparity would increase significantly if current Medicaid coverage does not remain in place.  

Beyond its immediate success in averting medical debt, Medicaid also yields longterm financial benefits. Studies show that Medicaid increases future earning opportunities for young people—important, given that lower-income adults are more likely to have medical debt than their wealthier counterparts. Significantly, children who benefited from Medicaid eligibility expansions are less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to graduate from college. Increased childhood Medicaid eligibility also leads to higher earnings in adulthood. In addition, the majority of employed people with Medicaid insurance in Ohio and Michigan reported that Medicaid made it easier for them to work or helped them do a better job at work.   

In short, Medicaid coverage is a powerful tool to protect families from the crushing burden of medical debt while also improving their longer-term financial trajectory. We urge all policymakers committed to reducing medical debt and improving economic security to oppose any cuts to Medicaid and instead commit to protecting and preserving a program critical to your constituents’ health and wellbeing.  

Thank you for your consideration of these important issues. If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Sternthal at [email protected]

Sincerely, 

See Attached for List of Signatores