Kentucky Voices for Health Hosts Urgent Press Call on Medicaid Cuts: “HR1 Will Cost Lives and Livelihoods”

Kentucky Voices for Health Hosts Urgent Press Call on Medicaid Cuts: “HR1 Will Cost Lives and Livelihoods”

July 2, 2025- In the wake of the U.S. Senate’s narrow passage of HR1—dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill”—Kentucky Medicaid Defense Coalition convened a press call today with policy experts, frontline providers, and Kentuckians directly impacted by the proposed federal Medicaid cuts.

Speakers highlighted the ways in which Kentucky is uniquely positioned to bear the brunt of this bill’s reductions in federal spending, including the loss of coverage for hundreds of thousands, unsustainable budget pressures, rural hospital closures, and widening health and economic inequities.

“As it stands, the Senate bill has gotten inexplicably worse for Kentuckians – adding massive cuts to Medicaid reimbursements for providers on top of the excessive paperwork and red tape created in the House version of the bill,” said Emily Beauregard, Executive Director of Kentucky Voices for Health. “The combined impact would be brutal for Kentucky. More than 200,000 Kentuckians could become uninsured. 35 rural hospitals are at risk of closure. 20,000 jobs are on the line. And every single Kentuckian will bear the cost – in reduced access to care, poorer health outcomes, and higher premiums.”

The call highlighted stark projections from budget and policy experts:

• Potential loss of as much as $28 billion in federal Medicaid funds to Kentucky over the next decade.
• Risk of 35 rural hospital closures, the highest number of any state.
• Coverage loss for more than 250,000 Kentuckians, including children, seniors, and people in recovery.
• No plans or solutions to adequately backfill these losses.

“Rural Kentucky stands to lose the most from this bill – in fact it stands to lose more than any other state in the country,” said Dustin Pugel, Policy Director at Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. “In places like Hal Rogers’ 5 th district, nearly 1 in 7 dollars’ worth of goods and services produced and sold originate with Medicaid payments to providers located there. Cuts of this magnitude would ripple throughout all of eastern Kentucky leading to layoffs, closures, and even more economic hardship.”

The call also put a spotlight on personal stories from those who would be directly affected by the bill’s impacts. Sarah Carter, Clinical Oncology Social Worker in McCracken County, said many of the cancer patients she works too sick to work, yet don’t meet the narrow federal definition of “disabled.” Under HR1, they’d fall through the cracks of new work reporting requirements—losing the Medicaid coverage that helps them access treatment, manage their disease, and stay afloat. “They’re already being severely impacted by their treatments, many too sick to leave their homes… the increase in requirements and paperwork will lead to countless patients losing their Medicaid.”

Angela Rowe, a Medicaid recipient and caregiver from Rowan County, told the story of how public programs like Medicaid have been there to help her Eastern Kentucky family fall into medical debt and poverty. “For people like me living with disability, Medicaid is survival,” she said. “It has helped me access care that private insurance doesn’t cover: things like physical therapy, mobility evaluations, and ongoing treatments to stay healthy and active.” She worries about how much worse access to care will be once rural providers, already stretched thin, aren’t available in as many KY counties. “For us to go to Lexington to get major specialist services, that’s an hour drive.”

Speakers from today’s press call are available for follow-up interviews, contact us to schedule. Media inquiries can be directed to Cody Kemmer at cody@kyvoicesforhealth.org.