3 million could lose Medi-Cal under ‘shameful’ Trump tax bill, Newsom warns
Gov. Gavin Newsom railed against Republican proposals to cut Medicaid and other social services Friday, warning President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Betrayal,” as he called it, could cause more than three million Californians to lose health coverage.
“This is devastating,” Newsom said in a virtual press conference. “I know that word is often overused in this line of work, but it’s in many ways an understatement of how reckless and cruel and damaging this is.”
Up to 3.4 million Medi-Cal patients could fall off the rolls if Congress imposes work requirements to access health care, according to analysis by the California Department of Health Care Services. The number represents more than one-fifth of the roughly 15 million Californians insured under the state’s low-income health program.
Republicans in Congress are hammering out remaining details in President Trump’s sweeping tax plan known as the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” including whether to cut Medicaid and enforce work requirements to pay for it.
House lawmakers this month approved a version that would cut roughly $800 billion for Medicaid over the next decade.
Newsom namechecked two Republicans, Reps. David Valadao and Kevin Kiley, who voted for it. “How shameful it is for these representatives … to walk their districts and betray their own voters like this,” he said.
Valadao this week told House leadership he would not support higher Medicaid cuts proposed by the Senate. With two-thirds of his constituents enrolled in Medicaid, he represents more of the program’s recipients than any other House lawmaker in California.
The California Health and Human Services agency estimates the state could lose more than $28 billion in federal Medicaid dollars if cuts are enacted. That could worsen the state’s budget deficit and Newsom acknowledged the state would not have the funds to backfill the losses.
Who would lose coverage?
According to the Newsom administration, around 3 million Medi-Cal recipients could lose coverage if Congress imposes a requirement that patients prove they are employed or that they cannot work due to a disability or some other reason.
Burdensome semiannual paperwork could lead to another 400,000 people sliding off the rolls.
“That’s exactly what they’re counting on to score the savings,” Newsom said.
The numbers from DHCS are based on an analysis of the impacts of recent work requirements in Arkansas and New Hampshire, Newsom said.
The state has made gains in recent years to reduce the number of people without health insurance. Last year, more than 94% of Californians were insured.
The governor said rural hospitals — many of which are already strained because of low reimbursements for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients — stand to be financially devastated by further cuts.
“Many (rural hospitals) will likely simply go out of business as a consequence,” Newsom said. “If Donald Trump signs this betrayal, he’s betraying the very people that disproportionately supported him, many of them living in rural parts of our state.”
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 4:21 PM.
