The state’s two U.S. senators said more New Hampshire residents are likely to die prematurely due to President Donald Trump’s budget law that one member of the all-Democratic congressional delegation called the “big betrayal” of the American people.
Speaking at a news conference at Waypoint in Manchester, the quartet charged what Trump has called the “big, beautiful bill” will cut off health care to 45,000 Granite Staters and reduce or eliminate SNAP food benefits for low-income families while raising energy and property taxes for the entire state.
“There is nothing beautiful about taking health care and food from struggling families and giving tax cuts to billionaires,” said U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. “What the president calls the big, beautiful bill, I call the big betrayal of the American people.”
While she was governor in 2015, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, signed into law Medicaid expansion that more than 40 states have adopted and which helped give New Hampshire one of the lowest rates of uninsured residents in the nation.
Many of those who’ve gotten Medicaid since then could lose it or face higher out-of-pocket costs they cannot afford.
“This bill is immoral, irrational and impractical. It contains the largest cut in Medicaid in American history, making health insurance premiums more expensive for the rest of us,” Hassan said.
Shaheen said she spoke with a Berlin man who said a substance-abuse recovery center he visited while on Medicaid saved his life.
“He said but for the center he would have taken his own life,” Shaheen said. “He said, ‘There are a lot of people like me in a similar circumstance.’”
Hassan said the law could create “pediatric care deserts” across the country as practitioners will be forced to close in the face of Medicaid cuts.
“I think it is a real possibility,” Hassan said, predicting the law could lead to more “early goodbyes.”
“The doctors I have talked to especially around rural areas say the longer you have to travel for medical care, the greater likelihood a life could be lost before someone receives that care.
“I hope that doesn’t happen and I know our health care providers will work as hard as they can for that not to happen.”
Goodlander: Slashing renewable energy tax credits is a ‘gift’ to China
The Trump administration has said Democratic critics have created false doomsday scenarios about the law whose aim is to make Medicaid more efficient and to require the nondisabled to engage in at least 80 hours per month working or otherwise providing other services outside the home.
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander said as many as 85,000 residents on Medicaid could face higher costs or lose coverage.
“New Hampshire is one of the hardest-hit states by one study that I saw,” Goodlander said.
She also said getting rid of renewable energy tax credits will raise homeowner costs.
“This bill is a big gift to the Peoples’ Republic of China,” Goodlander said. “We are cutting off our ability to be that clean-energy superpower.”
Rep. Chris Pappas said calls to his district offices on the bill ran “100-to-1” against it.
“The time to continue the fight on behalf of working families and people working paycheck to paycheck in New Hampshire is not near an end,” said Pappas, who is running for the U.S. Senate to try to replace Shaheen, who is retiring in 2026.
Later, Pappas added, “We will look for opportunities to try and mitigate the damage.”
Nick Paglia, a regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said all four Democrats should be ashamed of their opposition to Trump’s bill that restored record tax cuts.
“Every Democrat including liberal Chris Pappas voted against eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security, and for the largest working-class tax hike in history,” Paglia said in a statement.
“If Pappas had succeeded, it would have been a $4 trillion tax hike on the American people. Pappas’ fearmongering won’t be enough to hide the truth from Granite Staters: there’s not a tax hike Pappas doesn’t like.”
Borja Alvarez de Toledo, president and CEO of Waypoint, said 70% of their clients are on Medicaid.
