John,

Sixty-one years ago this week, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law, transforming health care for older adults, people with disabilities, children, pregnant people, and families with low incomes. Together, these programs now cover roughly 130 million people. They represent a 61-year public promise that everyone should be able to receive care when they need it.^1,2

Medicaid alone covers 1 in 5 people nationwide, nearly half of all children, 6 in 10 nursing home residents, and 41% of births. It pays for cancer treatment, medications, pregnancy care, nursing services, wheelchairs, oxygen, and home- and community-based care that allows older adults and people with disabilities to live with dignity.³

Yet Congress marked the 60th anniversary by slashing Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act support by more than $1 trillion in their Big Brutal Bill. Nearly 15 million people are projected to become uninsured by 2034, with 60% of those coverage losses falling on communities of color.^4,5 The Trump administration piled on harsher new work reporting requirements and twice-yearly eligibility checks―making the harms to our communities even worse.⁶

Donate $5 today to help CHN defend Medicare and Medicaid, reverse damaging cuts, and stop paperwork barriers from stealing health coverage from eligible families.

CHN joined the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, the NAACP, the National Council of Negro Women, the National Urban League, the Southern Poverty Law Center, UnidosUS, Community Catalyst, and Families USA in drafting and releasing Seamless, Accountable & Fair: A Civil Rights Agenda for Reconstructing Insurance Affordability Programs⁷. Together, we are exposing how red tape, inadequate staffing, unequal state systems, and discriminatory barriers prevent eligible people from getting and keeping coverage.

The report maps a better path forward. People could qualify automatically through existing tax or SNAP information. Families could use one eligibility system instead of navigating multiple agencies. States could receive the staffing and technology needed to process applications accurately, while facing meaningful accountability when eligible people are wrongfully denied coverage.

With policymakers threatening to enact even more cuts, CHN and 261 partner organizations urged Congress to reject any new reconciliation package that threatens health care and other basic needs.⁸ Already, millions are losing coverage or struggling with higher health costs; states are grappling with chaotic new reporting rules, and communities face additional cuts to home- and community-based services. Another round of cuts would compound this damage. So far, that pressure campaign is working―the budget resolution passed by the House last week does not include cuts to Medicaid or other human needs.

Your support helps CHN bring national, state, and local organizations together, document the consequences of harmful policy choices, develop solutions, educate lawmakers, and mobilize advocates nationwide. Sixty-one years after Medicare and Medicaid were created, we refuse to let decades of progress be dismantled through budget cuts and bureaucratic cruelty―and instead we are working with partners for a better health system.

Please donate $5 today to help protect the 61-year promise of Medicare and Medicaid and build a health coverage system that is seamless, accountable, and fair.

If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your secure donation will go through immediately:

Thank you for all you do,

Meredith Dodson
Senior Public Policy Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ History of Medicare and Medicaid
² Medicare and Medicaid by the Numbers
³ 10 Things to Know About Medicaid
⁴ CHN Joins Civil Rights and Health Equity Organizations to Call for Fair, Accessible Health Coverage
⁵ Seamless, Accountable & Fair: A Civil Rights Agenda for Reconstructing Insurance Affordability Programs
⁶ Medicaid Work Reporting Requirements Interim Final Rule Comment Guide
⁷ Seamless, Accountable & Fair: A Civil Rights Agenda for Reconstructing Insurance Affordability Programs  
⁸ 262 Organizations Call on Congress to Reject a Harmful Reconciliation 3.0 Package