Gov. Josh Shapiro is criticizing Pennsylvania Republicans who voted in favor of the reconciliation bill signed into law late last week by President Donald Trump, saying the commonwealth “got screwed.”
“It breaks my heart after all the progress we’ve made that the federal government, with one vote, ripped a good chunk of that away,” he said. “I hope that the representatives wake up and see the negative impact that they are having on our commonwealth.”
Speaking in York Monday, Shapiro said the consequences of the vote, “to give a tax cut to those at the highest income brackets and pay for it by slashing Medicaid and SNAP and harming rural hospitals,” hang on the commonwealth’s nine House members and GOP U.S. Senator Dave McCormick for their action.
“They knew what they were voting for. They voted for it,” he said. “Pennsylvania can’t backfill this. We don’t have the money to do it. I warned these members of Congress that we couldn’t do it, and so the cuts that are about to come are coming as a direct result of how your federal representatives voted here.”
“They’re taking billions of dollars away from Pennsylvania, and we can’t make up for that,” he added.
The governor warned the commonwealth’s rural hospitals could be at risk, since the measure cuts more than $1 trillion from Medicaid. According to an analysis by the nonprofit health policy group KFF, payments to hospitals or nursing facilities would probably decrease in at least 29 states.
“We have about 25 rural hospitals that are both working with an operating deficit, where about 50% or more of their revenues are coming from public payer, right, coming from Medicaid,” he said. “If you’re already facing a deficit and your Medicaid is being slashed, we estimate that there’s about 25 rural hospitals that are likely to shutter in the next few years because of this.”
The state Department of Human Services says cuts could result in more than 310,000 Pennsylvanians losing Medicaid coverage. Some 270,000 could lose access to marketplace plans or face steep premium increases.
But, Rep. Dan Meuser (R-09), who is considering a run for governor next year, said the new law strengthens Medicaid “for those it was intended to support.”
“It includes common-sense work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents, removes individuals who are ineligible under the law from the rolls, and, beginning in October 2026, it ends the federal cost-share for states that choose to include illegal immigrants in their Medicaid programs,” he said in a statement. “It also delivers support for rural health care, creating a $50 billion fund to help rural hospitals and ensure continued access to care.”
According to the Associated Press, advocates for rural hospitals warn the funds won’t make up for the shortage. A recent American Hospital Association report found in 2023, hospitals received nearly $28 billion less from Medicaid than the actual cost of treating Medicaid patients.