American Lung Association: House Budget Resolution Would Result in Massive Cuts that Would Irreparably Harm Nation’s Lung Health

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives released its budget resolution. The budget resolution calls for dramatic, gutting reductions in federal spending that could only be achieved by making devastating cuts to the Medicaid program. American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer issued the following statement regarding this announcement:

“The House of Representative’s budget resolution would devastate health coverage for tens of millions of people, including the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and workers who do not get insurance from their jobs. The proposed cuts would take away coverage, increase medical debt for patients, increase costs to states and harm the lung health of millions.

“If these cuts happen, it will result in fewer kids getting well-visit check-ups or seeing their doctor when they’re sick. People living in nursing homes will be forced to leave long-term care, pregnant women will lose access to prenatal services that ensure healthy pregnancies and babies, and people living with lung disease will have to delay necessary healthcare and may have severe asthma or COPD flare-ups that otherwise could have been prevented. There is no way to cut Medicaid spending without harming these groups.

“Medicaid is a program that ensures families are healthy enough to go to work and that kids are healthy enough to go to school. The American Lung Association calls on Congress to keep everyone’s lungs healthy by protecting Medicaid coverage.

“Given the size of the cuts called for in the House’s proposed budget resolution, it would almost certainly harm efforts to clean our air. We call on Congress to protect programs that invest in air pollution cleanup in communities. Current tax credits and programs invest in protecting people from asthma attacks, lifelong lung damage and other harms from pollution from vehicles and power plants. Members have signaled intention to cut these programs during this same budget reconciliation process, which would lead to health harms that should have been prevented.”