As Governor, Justice Warned Against Cuts to Medicaid; As Senator He Will Have the Chance to Protect It

Last week, the U.S. House narrowly passed a budget resolution that sets Congress on a course to enact deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (food assistance) in order to pay for windfall tax cuts for wealthy households. Combined with tariffs recently implemented by the White House (and expected to cost an estimated $2,700 per household annually), low- and middle-income households are expected to see their household costs increase including for food and health care. While every member of West Virginia’s federal delegation voted to advance this budget process, Senator Jim Justice had some strong words regarding federal efforts to cut Medicaid when he was governor in 2017.

In a June 2017 letter to Senator Capito, the last time deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP were under consideration, then Governor Justice said, “Since so many of our people count on Medicaid, any cut to Medicaid would destroy families in West Virginia… The consequences would be beyond catastrophic.” He went on to highlight the importance of Medicaid in addressing the state’s drug epidemic. Finally, he discussed the state legislature’s cuts to state funding for Medicaid saying, “The hole will get deeper and darker if the federal government reduces Medicaid funding to the states”.

Every concern then Governor Justice raised in 2017 is just as relevant today:

• Medicaid is a vital health program for many of our residents and is the backbone of our health care system.
• Medicaid is the most important tool we have to treat addiction and substance use disorder.
• State lawmakers have repeatedly underfunded and relied on one-time money to fund the state’s share of Medicaid and have made clear they are unwilling or unable to pitch in more state funding if the federal share of Medicaid were reduced.

West Virginia would be among the states most harmed by this Congressional proposal. Nearly one in three residents rely on Medicaid for their health care and more than 270,000 residents (one in six) receive SNAP food assistance benefits. But few West Virginians will benefit from the tax provisions that largely benefit the top one percent of households in the United States. In fact, the $1.1 trillion envisioned in SNAP and Medicaid cuts is the same amount as the cost of extending tax cuts to the top one percent of households, giving them an average tax cut of $60,000+ annually – more than the average household in West Virginia makes all year.

We hope Senator Capito and Senator Justice will remember Governor Justice’s wisdom and pleas from 2017 to protect this vital program for our people. To urge them to do so, you can take action here.