$1 Trillion in Medicaid Cuts Are Now Law. California Loses $30B a Year.
Trump signed a tax and spending law in July 2025 that cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. California health officials estimate the state’s Medi-Cal program could lose roughly $30 billion annually. The state’s uninsured rate is projected to double, with 2.2 million people losing coverage by 2030.
The law imposes work requirements and shorter eligibility periods on low-income adults. Research consistently shows these conditions remove mostly eligible people from public programs through paperwork errors, not actual ineligibility. California lawmakers added their own cuts on top of the federal reductions, eliminating state-funded benefits for undocumented immigrants and refugees.
Privately Insured Patients Will Also Lose Access to Care
Hospitals do not operate in isolation. When Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles closed in 2007, neighboring hospitals reported emergency department wait times exceeding 11 hours and absorbed more trauma cases and uninsured patients. Researchers later found the closure increased mortality rates and reduced access across the entire region, not just for former King-Harbor patients.
“The way that everybody feels it is an inability to get access to the care they need when they need it.”
Carmela Coyle, California Hospital Association president and CEO
Experts warn these ripple effects will multiply as hospitals absorb millions of newly uninsured patients. Privately insured people can expect reduced services, lower care quality, and potentially higher premiums as a result.
Disabled Americans Face a Second Threat: Losing the Right to Home Care
The cuts also threaten a 25-year legal protection for people with disabilities. Since 1999, the Supreme Court’s Olmstead ruling has been interpreted to guarantee people with disabilities the right to receive care at home rather than in an institution. In June 2026, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice issued a memo rejecting that interpretation.
Carl Schulze, a Wisconsin man who broke his neck in a fall 19 years ago, rode 125 miles in his powered wheelchair to the Wisconsin state Capitol to protest the cuts. Medicaid covers the home care aides who help him with every daily activity.
“The federal government is openly telling states, there will be no consequences if they defund the very services that keep disabled people living at home.”
Carl Schulze, Medicaid recipient and disability advocate, August 7, 2026
Wisconsin alone faces more than $900 million in Medicaid cuts over ten years under the law.
What You Can Do Now
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Call your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121 and demand they support legislation to reverse Medicaid work requirements. Tell them you know the cuts affect all patients, not just Medi-Cal recipients.
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Contact your state legislators about protecting Medi-Cal funding at the state level. In California, find your rep at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov and ask them to restore benefits cut from undocumented immigrants and refugees.
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Contact your state attorney general about the Trump DOJ’s June 2026 Olmstead memo. The National Association of Attorneys General directory is at naag.org/find-my-ag/. Ask them to challenge the memo in court and defend disabled residents’ right to home care.
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If you receive Medi-Cal, review your eligibility status now. California is sending notices as coverage rules change. The state’s Medi-Cal guidance is at dhcs.ca.gov.
Sources
CalMatters: Medicaid Cuts Ripple Effects on All California Patients Including Insured Wisconsin Examiner: Carl Schulze Wheelchair Ride Protests Wisconsin Medicaid Cuts KFF: Medicaid Work Requirements Research and Policy Analysis Olmstead Rights: Supreme Court Ruling on Disabled People’s Right to Community Care California Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal Program Updates