Alarm Bells Sound Over Deep Health Care Cuts In House-Passed Tax Bill

Modern Healthcare: What The 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Cuts From Healthcare
The House passed a sweeping tax-and-spending cuts bill Thursday that would dramatically reshape the healthcare system by slashing more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and other programs. The majority Republican lower chamber voted 215-214 to approve the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 just before 7 a.m. EDT after an all-night floor debate. Attention now shifts the GOP-led Senate, which has not commenced public debate on its tax measure. Congress is scheduled to begin a recess Friday and will return to Washington on June 2. (McAuliff, 5/22)

Modern Healthcare: GOP Senators Promise Changes To Medicaid Cuts In Tax Bill
Deep cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare programs the House passed Thursday are unlikely to survive Senate debate intact, key Republicans said. The House approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 by a single vote, and the internal GOP fight in the Senate is likely to be just as hard to resolve as it was in the lower chamber. Hard-line conservatives and swing-state senators are already facing off in a battle to change the House measure. (McAuliff, 5/22)

Provisions on specific programs —

KFF Health News: Republicans Aim To Punish States That Insure Unauthorized Immigrants
President Donald Trump’s signature budget legislation would punish 14 states that offer health coverage to people in the U.S. without authorization. The states, most of them Democratic-led, provide insurance to some low-income immigrants — often children — regardless of their legal status. Advocates argue the policy is both humane and ultimately cost-saving. (Galewitz and Mai-Duc, 5/23)

NBC News: House Passes Tax Bill That Would Ban Medicaid From Covering Transition-Related Care
The tax bill the House passed Thursday would bar Medicaid coverage of all transgender care and prohibit plans offered under the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges from covering such care as an essential health benefit, potentially jeopardizing access to care for hundreds of thousands of trans adults and an unknown number of minors. The bill initially would have prohibited Medicaid from covering “gender transition procedures” for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery. However, House Republican leadership introduced an amendment late Wednesday that struck the word “minors” and the words “under 18 years of age” from that section, The Independent first reported. (Yurcaba, 5/22)

AP: Budget Would Jolt Medicaid And Food Aid For Low-Income People
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, already requires work for some of its roughly 42 million recipients. Adults ages 18-54 who are physically and mentally able and don’t have dependents must work, volunteer or participate in training programs for at least 80 hours a month, or else be limited to just three months of benefits in a three-year period. The legislation passed by the House would raise the work requirement to age 65 and also extend it to parents without children younger than age 7. The bill also would limit the ability to waive work requirements in areas with high unemployment rates. (Mulvihill and Lieb, 5/22)

CMS updates —

Becker's Hospital Review: CMS Updates Hospital Price Transparency Guidance Following Executive Order
CMS updated its hospital price transparency guidance May 22, requiring hospitals to post the actual prices of items and services, not estimates. The update comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order Feb. 25 aimed at boosting healthcare price transparency. In the updated guidance, CMS said hospitals must display payer-specific standard charges as dollar amounts in their machine-readable files (MRFs) whenever calculable. This includes the amount negotiated for the item or service, the base rate negotiated for a service package and a dollar amount if the standard charge is based on a percentage of a known fee schedule. (Cass, 5/22)

Modern Healthcare: ACO REACH Gets Risk Adjustment, Benchmark Updates From CMS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will revise a popular Medicare accountable care organization as new evidence indicates the program is saving more money. CMS is updating financial benchmarks and risk-adjustment formulas for ACO Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health, or ACO REACH, the agency revealed in an update to its website Wednesday. These changes are prompted by a preliminary report showing gross savings are rising even though the alternative payment model remains costlier than the standard Medicare payment system. (Early, 5/22)