STATEMENT: The House-Passed Reconciliation Package Fiscally and Morally Fails America

Early Thursday morning, the US House of Representatives rushed passage of the so-called “big beautiful bill,” setting the stage for catastrophic loss of healthcare coverage, higher costs for consumers, and greater concentration of wealth among billionaires. Advancing with a one vote margin, the debate now moves to the Senate, which is expected to make changes to the bill. HIV advocates, healthcare advocates and communities nationwide now need to urgently and loudly denounce this bill and demand that their Senators stop cuts to healthcare access, critical food assistance, and many other key supports relied on by tens of millions of people nationwide. 

The final version of the House bill is even worse than what advocates had feared, proposing the largest cut ever to Medicaid as well as burdensome red-tape requirements for the program that would begin in 2026 instead of 2029. The bill also would balloon government debt to such a degree that it would trigger cuts to Medicare, with untold effects on more than 68 million Medicare enrollees’ care. Additionally, it would increase insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act and block Medicaid or CHIP recipients, including adults and parents, from making their own health care decisions by prohibiting federal matching funds for “gender transition procedures.”

While the full effects of the final version of the bill are still being evaluated, these changes would significantly worsen the impacts of a reconciliation package that was already poised to cut nearly 14 million Americans off from healthcare coverage. It would also worsen predictions by the Congressional Budget Office that the bill would result in a reverse Robin Hood scenario: reducing income for the poorest Americans by 2% while increasing income for the wealthiest by 4%. And the bill continues to threaten food assistance for 11 million Americans, including 4 million children. 

People living with HIV and those who love them stand to lose heavily under the bill. Medicaid insures 40% of Americans living with HIV. Should any portion of the bill’s assault on healthcare come to pass, it would disproportionately threaten access to care for people living with HIV and place greater burden on other state and federal programs meant to address the epidemic. Such deep cuts would lead to more members of our communities falling through the cracks, acquiring HIV, developing AIDS, and dying. Medicaid cuts also would completely undo recent progress on reducing drug overdose deaths. 

The bill is an attack on common decency and common sense. Every US state stands to lose significantly on Medicaid – Speaker Johnson’s own state, Louisiana, would lose more on a per capita basis compared to any other state as the bill threatens 50% of Medicaid funds for Louisiana. At every level, America will lose big if this big, ugly, bill passes – the only individuals who stand to win are the ultra wealthy at the expense of working and low-income people. 

Now is the time to throw everything we have at the Senate to beat back this mugging of America. Over the critical coming weeks, the Save HIV Funding campaign will continue to raise awareness of the devastating impacts of this bill with policy makers and invite you and your organization to join us by:

• Urging Senators to vote against the reconciliation package that would cut key programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, reduce access to care, and increase costs. You can find your two Senators here and/or call them via the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. 
• Thanking Democratic Representatives (who all voted against the House bill) or expressing grave concern to Republican Representatives who supported the bill by finding your representatives here and/or calling them via the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. 
• Connecting with or requesting a local town hall during next week’s Congressional recess by using this “5 calls” action alert.

To stay engaged with the Save HIV Funding Campaign throughout this process, please sign up for Save HIV Funding Campaign updates on next steps and actions here. If your organization would like to join our regular Tuesday strategy calls please  [email protected].

America is on the verge of making a dangerous, immoral, and costly mistake that will impact all of us. We owe it to our communities, including individuals impacted by HIV, to  beat back this assault on our health, our lives, and our futures.