New Hampshire’s four members of Congress are condemning the new federal budget which they said could see roughly 45,000 Granite Staters lose healthcare coverage and trillions of dollars added to the nation’s debt.
At a Tuesday press conference at social service provider Waypoint in Manchester, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Chris Pappas, and Rep. Maggie Goodlander all warned of the new budget’s impacts, including steep cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low income people.
Hassan said the budget package's cuts to Medicaid will ripple throughout the healthcare system, including rural hospitals and organizations that help with the state's fentanyl crisis. Hassan said ultimately the bill puts the burden of lost Medicaid funding onto those who have insurance — as their carriers will make up the difference in lost Medicaid payments through higher premiums.
“Republicans in Congress and the president have passed a bill which simply makes life less affordable,” Hassan said.
Access to NH Medicaid coverage is changing. Here's what you need to know.
Shaheen said working parents, children and seniors could also lose access to SNAP (Supplemental Food Assistance Program) benefits, and families that use low income heating assistance could be affected as tax energy credits for efficiency have been eliminated from the federal budget.
“I don't think this is what the people in New Hampshire want to see, and it's certainly not what Americans deserve,” Shaheen said. “At a moment when tariffs are already squeezing Americans' cost of living, Congress should be doing better. We should be expanding affordable health care, not cutting it to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest and the biggest corporations."
In New Hampshire 62% of SNAP recipients are families with children and 49% are older adults or individuals with disabilities, according to New Hampshire Hunger Solutions.
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Sen. Chris Pappas said the bill is widely unpopular with constituents.
“I've never seen more people reach out to our office and tell very deeply personal stories about how this bill would impact them,” Pappas said. “I think the numbers were running about 100 to 1 against this piece of legislation.”
New Hampshire’s members of Congress were joined Tuesday by Waypoint’s president and CEO Borja Alvarez Toledo. He said his organization has served over 12,000 people last year, many of them families navigating health crises. He said 75% of Waypoint’s clientele is on Medicaid.
