Savage Medicaid cuts are on the table, and NJ families will be hit hard
Photo: Sally Cogan holding up a poster saying, “Let me make one finally please Mr President…” in the auditorium at Liberty Middle School in West Orange, NJ, on March 21, 2025. Photo Credit: Anthony Orlando for Public Square Amplified
West Orange, NJ - New Jerseyans are frightened and furious by the Trump Administration's attempt to cut funding to the United States’ Medicaid program. This backlash reached an apex on February 25th, when the House Republicans' voted to enforce these cuts.
"This proposed budget is brutal, the most inhumane budget we've ever seen come out of Washington," said Laura Waddell, the Health Care Program Director at New Jersey Citizen Action, "and if allowed to go through, it will be detrimental to our country. But to New Jerseyans, we have 1.8 million people on NJ FamilyCare Medicaid, and they are at risk."
In response to the Republican vote, U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver held a town hall meeting at Liberty Middle School in West Orange on Friday, March 21st. There, locals gathered to voice their outrage and to have questions about Medicaid answered.
The CDC describes Medicaid as the partnership of state and federal government funding to provide medical care to U.S. residents. Medicaid is now the largest program providing medical and health-related services to low-income people, reportedly covering 72 million people.
Each state sets its own eligibility standards for Medicaid, including the type, amount, duration, and scope of services provided to people. Each state can also set the payment rates for Medicaid based on "fee-for-service" models and provide its own healthcare program. In New Jersey's case, the state offers its residents NJ FamilyCare.
According to Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ), NJ FamilyCare covers 1.8 million state residents. In 2023, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 31.6% of New Jerseyans on Medicaid under 64 are 31.6% white, 19.3% Black, 38.4% Hispanic, 5.5.% Asian/Native Hawaiian or Pacific Island, 0.1% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 5.5% of multiple races.
Out of all New Jerseyans on Medicaid, ACNJ says 830,000 of them are children under 19 and 80,000 young adults. Children on Medicaid in New Jersey include those from poor- to moderate-income working families, children living in foster care or kinship care families, and children with developmental disabilities or other special, health-related needs.
With Medicaid providing such widespread coverage to Americans, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put its total annual cost for the federal and state governments at over $871 billion in 2023. For New Jersey, federal funding covers over half its $24 billion Medicaid budget, with over $700 million reportedly going into supporting hospitals in 2025.
Photo: A man sitting next to a woman holding up a poster saying, “Muskrat Sally scamper on… Get your Paws off Medicaid Elon!” Photo Credit: Anthony Orlando for Public Square Amplified
Though Donald Trump said on January 27th that he wouldn't cut funding for Medicaid, FactCheck.org claims that House Republicans are planning to cut Medicaid funding to meet Trump's demand to reduce federal spending by $880 billion over 10 years.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) said the proposed cut to funding would "directly and immediately" reduce the number of people who receive Medicaid, which could cause an estimated 36 million people across all 50 U.S. states to lose their health coverage. Removing Medicaid would devastate vulnerable communities throughout the country, including those with low-income residents, people with disabilities, and historically marginalized communities.
The CBPP claimed that New Jersey Medicaid cuts could affect several vital services. These include hospital care, dental care, prescription drugs, maternal health care, long-term care in nursing facilities, behavioral health services (including for those with serious mental illness and substance use disorders), and community-based services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Waddell also said Medicaid will affect people's eligibility for SNAP services, which includes food stamps.
The KFF also claimed that Medicaid cuts could force states to offset the loss of federal funds by raising taxes or cutting funding from other state programs and services, including education. These cuts could occur if states are unable to cover new Medicaid costs.
Backlash against slashing Medicaid
In a survey by Fabrizio Ward, 70% of American voters strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s attempts to cut Medicaid, with 51% of Trump voters feeling the same way. This opposition was seen at the Medicaid Town Hall, where locals spoke out against proposed funding cuts. Sally Cogan, whose husband recently died from Advanced Alzheimer's Disease, was among them.
"I was lucky enough to be able to keep my husband at home, but many of the people that I Zoom with weekly aren't," said Cogan, "and they had to put their husbands and wives in a memory care unit or a nursing home, and they're terrified that they're gonna lose Medicaid funding, and it just destroys me thinking about them losing the ability to have their loved one taken care of."
The proposed Medicaid cuts have also caused backlash from individuals and families who rely on Medicaid due to disabilities such as autism, blindness, and hearing impairments. Since Medicaid provides health coverage and home - and community -based support and services, Americans with disabilities feel threatened as they could be forced to stay in assisted living facilities.
Laura Weinberg, a certified speech-language pathologist, traveled to the town hall as a longtime advocate of autism awareness alongside her autistic son, William Aronow, who has relied on communication devices to speak since childhood. The latter spoke to the Assembly Budget Committee in Trenton on March 19th, 2025, against the proposed Medicaid cuts, saying it is crucial for people like him with developmental disabilities.
Photo - Left: (L-R) Lenore Jenkins-Beauliere and Frederick Devonshire. Photo Credits: Anthony Orlando for Public Square Amplified
"I want to live at home, and I don't want to go to a nursing home," Aronow said in his testimony.
"All of these things that people don't realize are Medicaid are all Medicaid," Weinberg said at the Town Hall. "Everything! Developmental disabilities…it's Medicaid!"
Lenore Jenkins-Beauliere, a Navy veteran who served during Operation Desert Storm, also attended the town hall meeting to ask how Medicaid would affect veterans. Having lost some of her hearing ability during her service, Jenkins-Beauliere has since relied on a hearing aid.
"Medicaid, it's going to affect all of us," said Jenkins-Beauliere. "Right now, I'm still working, so I'm able to have it through my company…but it's going to be affected. It's going to be really bad."
What is being done?
At this time, the future of Medicaid is unclear. The Medicare Rights Center claimed that House Republicans should finish negotiations with the Senate on their proposed budget cuts by Memorial Day. Though compromises have been made in these talks, Medicaid remains at risk.
McIver delivered a call to action to the public in the fight for their Medicaid. Attendees were encouraged to pressure their local and state legislators to preserve Medicaid by showing why it must remain in their communities.
New Jersey has since brought the heat with a massive display. On April 5th, as Hands Off protestors rallied nationwide against the Trump Administration and its many controversial policies, including potential healthcare funding cuts, protestors filled the streets of Jersey City, Trenton, Montclair, Atlantic City, and several other municipalities throughout the Garden State.
McIver also encouraged New Jerseyans to vote in the 2025 New Jersey Election on November 4th, with the primary election on June 10th, 2025. This election will see candidates run to succeed Governor Phil Murphy, and the outcome will determine if the state will have a leader fighting for their best interests, including Medicaid.
