AARP Is Fighting to Protect Medicaid Amid Threat of Funding Cuts

We’ve joined a coalition of organizations advocating to safeguard this essential health coverage

Emily Paulin,

Updated March 05, 2025

AARP

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Published February 24, 2025

/ Updated March 05, 2025

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As Congress works toward finalizing its budget, AARP is urging lawmakers to protect Medicaid, the joint federal and state program that covers health and long-term care costs for certain low-income people.

On Feb. 12, we joined the Modern Medicaid Alliance, a coalition of about 100 national and regional advocacy organizations committed to protecting this essential government-funded coverage. The Alliance is working to educate policymakers and the public on the importance of Medicaid to local communities, especially in rural areas, where access to health care not only fills an important medical need, but is also key to economic growth and jobs. Alliance members include organizations representing a variety of consumers; hospitals; doctors, nurses and other health providers; health care plans and others.

“Modern Medicaid Alliance is doing great work to show how Medicaid supports the health and well-being of millions of Americans and the impact that potential cuts could have on families across this country,” said AARP’s Glen Fewkes, a senior director of government affairs focused on health care access. “As Congress considers comprehensive changes to the program, the voice and perspectives of older Americans must be heard.”

Cuts would ‘wreak havoc’

About 7 million Americans ages 65 and over and 11 million Americans ages 50 to 64 are enrolled in Medicaid. Those enrollees 65 and over and those with disabilities rely on Medicaid for their long-term care needs (given Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care), including nursing home care, home health aides, personal care services and home modifications. Enrollees 50 to 64 without a disability rely on Medicaid for their health care, including everything from physician visits to hospital stays to prescription drugs, plus more.

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But the dollars that fund these critical health and long-term care services could be under threat as lawmakers work to finalize the federal budget. The U.S. House passed a budget resolution Feb. 25 that calls for $880 billion in spending cuts between 2025 and 2034 from programs overseen by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Medicaid is one of the largest programs the committee oversees, responsible for roughly $600 billion in spending per year, according to 2023 KFF data.

The Modern Medicaid Alliance is urging lawmakers to resist cutting Medicaid. “Stable Medicaid funding is essential for the health and well-being of over 70 million Americans and the stability of local providers who care for them,” the Alliance wrote in a Feb. 12 statement issued when the House Budget Committee released its proposed budget resolution. “Cuts to Medicaid would cause millions of Americans to lose access to care, destabilize rural hospitals and wreak havoc on state budgets.”

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The Alliance noted President Trump’s recent statement of support for the program, including comments from a Jan. 31 White House press conference where the president said the government “will love and cherish Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid unless we find abuse or waste, but people will not be affected.”

In addition to joining the Alliance, AARP is also meeting with members of Congress and their staff to emphasize the important role Medicaid coverage plays for older adults and their families. “There are many proposals on the table that could impact Medicaid, and we are taking them seriously,” AARP’s Fewkes said. “As the debate continues, we will make sure that the voices of older Americans are loud and clear.”

Advocating for Medicaid in the states

AARP also continues to push for Medicaid expansion and protection at the state level.

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AARP Montana, for example, helped defeat two bills this month that would have restricted eligibility for the state’s Medicaid program. One bill (SB199) would have introduced an employment requirement for Medicaid eligibility. The other bill (SB62) would have phased out Medicaid expansion, a provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows states to extend Medicaid coverage to more low-income people. To ensure the state’s Medicaid expansion is protected, we’re advocating for the passage of another bill (HB245) that would permanently renew expansion.

“The ongoing positive impact of Medicaid expansion is profound and is felt by far more than the individuals it directly serves,” wrote Kristin Page-Nei, government relations director for AARP Montana, in a guest opinion column published by multiple Montana news outlets. Key health care stakeholders who heavily rely on Medicaid funding, like rural hospitals, gain stability, she wrote. Many small businesses, whose workers rely on the program for health care coverage, can better retain their employees. Expansion is “a win/win for Montana across the board,” Page-Nei wrote.

Important action is also taking place in other states. AARP Georgia and AARP Mississippi are supporting legislative efforts to expand Medicaid to low-income individuals without other affordable coverage options.

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Emily Paulin is an editor at aarp.org who covers nursing homes, health care, and federal and state policy. Her work has also appeared in Broadsheet, an Australian lifestyle publication.