{"id":77827,"date":"2025-12-05T20:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=77827"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:37:09","slug":"older-adults-will-face-brunt-of-cuts-to-medicaid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=77827","title":{"rendered":"Older Adults Will Face Brunt of Cuts to Medicaid"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_65 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_65\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/author\/sunita\/\">Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><i class=\"tdb-date-icon tdc-font-fa tdc-font-fa-calendar\"><\/i><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2025-12-04T11:11:09-08:00\">Dec 4, 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_67 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_67\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Seniors stand to lose vision and dental care, home-based services and more with cuts to Medicaid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_68 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb td-animation-stack-type0-2\" title=\"eugene-chystiakov-vDmCL9hKTRE-unsplash\" src=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/eugene-chystiakov-vDmCL9hKTRE-unsplash-scaled-e1764899464802.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">(Eugene Chystiakov representational image via Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_69 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The sweeping cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and other safety-net programs in the federal government\u2019s new Budget Reconciliation Act \u2014 known as HR1 \u2014 will devastate core services that older adults rely on, from long-term care to dental and vision coverage.<\/p>\n<p>HR1 eliminates nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid through direct reductions and eligibility changes. That loss of federal funding will trigger cuts to benefits that millions of older adults depend on, said Amber Christ, managing director of health advocacy at Justice in Aging.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStates are going to lose billions of dollars in federal funding to operate their Medicaid programs,\u201d said Christ, at a Nov. 21 American Community Media news briefing. \u201cThere are really only so many ways to fill a hole of that size. You\u2019re going to have to cut provider rates. You\u2019re going to have to cut eligibility or cut benefits. And probably all three.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-cuts-to-community-based-services\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cuts to Community-Based Services<\/h2>\n<p>Much of what older adults rely on in Medicaid are optional for states to pay under federal law,\u201d including dental, vision, hearing, adult day health programs and home-and-community-based services. These at-home supports make it possible for many older adults to avoid nursing facilities. \u201cHome and community-based services account for 51% of optional spending in Medicaid,\u201d said Christ. \u201cIf you\u2019re a state, you\u2019re going to turn to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Medicaid also pays for long-term care, such as nursing homes or memory care facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Funding for the Older Americans Act programs \u2014 which offer transportation, caregiver respite, and other supports \u2014 will also be reduced next year. \u201cThe federal government is stopping funding for hundreds and hundreds of types of programs. And they\u2019re shifting those costs to the states and then ultimately to the people,\u201d said Christ.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-seniors-in-poverty\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seniors in Poverty<\/h2>\n<p>There is a stereotype of older adults being relatively economically comfortable, said Christ. However, most seniors live on a fixed income ranging from $30-$50,000 per year. The number of seniors living in poverty has dramatically risen from 2020: 15% of Americans over 65 now live below the federal poverty line of $16,250 for a single person.<\/p>\n<p>HR1 fundamentally restructures federal healthcare by redistributing resources away from low-income Americans and older adults toward households with higher incomes, said Christ. Low-income households will lose about 3 percent, or $1,200 a year, while households with the highest incomes will see their household resources increase by almost 3% or $13,600 a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHR1 really paid for tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country by cutting public programs for the people with the lowest incomes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Christ emphasized the deep interdependence of Medicare and Medicaid for seniors. \u201cMedicare has huge gaps in coverage, and is really expensive,\u201d she said. Medicaid fills those gaps by covering dental, vision, hearing, nursing care and the 20 percent coinsurance charged by doctors. \u201cWithout Medicaid\u2019s financial assistance, older adults and people with disabilities could not afford Medicare,\u201d she said. \u201cMedicare would become an unusable benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-coverage-ends-for-lawfully-present-immigrants\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Coverage Ends for Lawfully Present Immigrants<\/h2>\n<p>HR1 also imposes unprecedented restrictions on Medicare for older immigrants with lawful status. \u201cHR1 is actually ending eligibility for Medicare for millions of lawfully present immigrants, including refugees, asylees, and the people with temporary protected status,\u201d said Christ, noting that many have paid Medicare taxes for years. \u201cThis is unprecedented. At no time in history that we are aware of have people who have had eligibility for Medicare lost eligibility for Medicare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those individuals, she said, will not be able to turn to marketplace plans because HR1 also eliminates their access to enhanced premium tax credits. \u201cWe\u2019re leaving millions of people uninsured,\u201d she said. \u201cThey won\u2019t be able to afford marketplace coverage and they won\u2019t be able to enroll in Medicaid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Medicaid expansion enrollees ages 50 to 64 \u2014 including caregivers and people with chronic conditions \u2014 will lose coverage under new work requirements. The Congressional Budget Office estimates 5 million people will lose insurance due to the administrative barriers of having to prove they are working.<\/p>\n<p>Older adults age 50 to 64 represent 51% of those getting enhanced premium tax credits.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what happens to older adults who lose coverage, Christ was blunt. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see a lot more emergency room use. We\u2019re going to see higher rates of mortality, because people aren\u2019t going to get the care that they need when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou cannot cut $1 trillion out of the healthcare system and not have ramifications across the entire society,\u201d she stated. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody is immune from this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySunita Sohrabji Dec 4, 2025 Seniors&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-opinion","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77828,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77827\/revisions\/77828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}