State health department: 700,000 Michiganders could lose Medicaid under GOP plans

MPRN | By Rick Pluta

Published May 7, 2025 at 11:59 PM EDT

Last week's ransomware attack disrupted Ascension's 140 hospitals across the country, including more than a dozen in Michigan. Nurses say the quality of patient care has been significantly impacted. “I probably said 25 times [during my shift this week,] ‘We should not be doing elective surgeries,’” one nurse told Michigan Public. "Patient safety is at risk.” — Last week's ransomware attack disrupted Ascension's 140 hospitals across the country, including more than a dozen in Michigan. Nurses say the quality of patient care has been impacted.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says nearly a third of the state’s Medicaid beneficiaries faces the prospect of losing coverage under federal budget cuts that could be necessary for Republicans to meet their spending-reduction targets.

The exact targets those cuts are still under negotiation, and Republicans have said they won't include Medicaid, but many experts have said meeting the GOP budget goals without touching Medicaid is likely impossible.

The health department's report assumes the full $880 billion in cuts that the Trump administration has requested from the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce will fall on Medicaid, the program that provides health care for low-income adults and children.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer asked the department to come up with the report as she tries to muster opposition to the Republican plans. She said they could cost the state $1.1 billion a year. The report released Wednesday said a GOP tax overhaul could result in a $2.2 billion dollar decrease to Michigan hospitals and $325 million less for nursing homes.

"More than 700,000 Michiganders including people fighting cancer, seniors in nursing homes, new moms, veterans, kids, and those living with disabilities could lose their health care,” Whitmer said in a statement released by her office. “Michiganders will suffer because these proposed cuts go too far, too fast, and everyone, including those not on Medicaid, will end up paying more for their insurance.”

But state Sen. Jim Runested (R-White Lake), who is also chair of the Michigan Republican Party, accused Whitmer of “scaremongering.” He noted there is still no specific budget proposal.
He said it is possible to hit the savings targets by removing ineligible people from public assistance, ending improper payments, and deporting people without legal status.

“Nobody losing their benefits who should have them. It’s people who don’t – a lot of them are illegal aliens,” he said, although people who are in the United States without legal status are not eligible for federally funded Medicaid coverage. Runestad said reducing Medicaid spending is part of President Donald Trump's effort to fight “waste, fraud and abuse.”