Feb. 27, 2025  |  Vol. 29 No. 2  |  Archives

In This Issue

Coming Up on A Closer Look

Tell Congress to Keep Their Hands Off Our Medicaid!

Next week on our policy blog, we'll share resources to help you expand and deepen your strategic appeals to lawmakers and community members urging them protect Medicaid, which provides 40% of all funding for Health Care for the Homeless services in the U.S.

Let’s separate the smoke from the fire. While the Trump administration’s executive orders have created a lot of fear and chaos, the biggest threat to the Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) community right now is happening on the Hill: Congress is in the process of taking away Medicaid to provide tax cuts to the wealthy.   

We need to act NOW and tell lawmakers that cuts to Medicaid are unacceptable. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected with your lawmaker. If you want to write to them, tailor this action alert from the Coalition on Human Needs to reflect the needs of our community. Tell Congress three things: 

When possible, use district-level data to make your point! Find out how many people in your community are enrolled in Medicaid here. For more talking points and information see our Protect Medicaid letter and our new factsheet: Impact of Medicaid Work Requirements for Unhoused People.  

Congress has only two weeks left to fund the government or shut it down before funding expires on March 14. At the same time, House and Senate Republicans both put forth two (terrible) budget bills to deliver on President Trump’s agenda: 

The House budget resolution passed late Tuesday night, after Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump were left scrambling to win over holdout Republicans. Prior to the vote, Republicans began splintering on cuts to Medicaid with Speaker Johnson acknowledging the possibility that multiple Republicans may vote no. Thanks to outreach from advocates, including after portals went down as a result of the funding freeze, some Republicans publicly expressed concerns about cutting the program. Here’s what they said and what we must hold them accountable to: 

Other Republicans worked to convince their colleagues that proposed cuts to Medicaid are to address waste, fraud, and abuse in the program, not cut benefits, but we know this means targeting the single adult expansion population or the “undeserving poor.” Ultimately, Republicans secured the votes, and the blueprint passed with only one Republican (Massie, KY) voting against it. But this is just the first step in the budget process and in our advocacy. Next, committees must decide how and where to cut spending, which will mean cuts to Medicaid unless we speak up. What they call “waste, fraud, and abuse” is actually referring to people’s lives. We need to act NOW. Keep speaking out about the harms of cutting health insurance for millions of people.

Tell your lawmakers NO cuts to Medicaid.  

Resources: 

Related reading: 

After rescinding the funding freeze last month, community health centers across the country continued to experience delays in accessing funds – impacting their ability to provide care. The outreach and outrage from constituents was loud, and led to some Congressional lawmakers sending a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services asking for clarification and further communication from HRSA.  

If your health center has any difficulty in drawing down funds, please reach out to us at policy@nhchc.org.  

Related reading:

The (unofficial) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began targeting two essential agencies this month: Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department Health and Human Services (HHS). 

The administration first announced they would cut 50% of HUD’s workforce, putting key programs at risk. The Office of Community Planning and Development, which funds housing and support for people experiencing homelessness, is expected to lose 84% of staff. HHS agencies were notified that over 5,000 staff across multiple agencies would be let go, which includes cuts at CMS (Medicaid/Medicare), HRSA (health centers), and CDC (public health). These staff support critical health services across the country. 

Legal Challenges to Executive Orders: Lawsuits against the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders are moving fast and can be hard to keep up with. Most major threats have been paused by the court at the time this newsletter was published.  

Takeaway: These EOs are meant to cause mass confusion, but it’s important to remember their limited scope and ongoing legal challenges. Here are a few resources to help you stay up to date:  

New Executive Order Attacking Immigrants: Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders 

Likely Impact on the HCH Community: Federal law mandates health centers serve patients regardless of immigration status. This EO does not change that. However, because health centers serve undocumented people, we anticipate the health center program to be on the list being created. It is unclear what implications this action has for the future.  

Related reading and resource: 

Health and Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as Secretary of HHS earlier this month, quickly advancing his plan to Make America Healthy Again which could be made more difficult by the DOGE teams plan to cut the federal workforce. RFK Jr’s agenda for the largest federal agency is concerning, and he has already begun implementing the President’s attacks on the transgender community by issuing guidance to narrowly define sex as binary and launching a new agency website for  “Protecting Women and Children” spotlighting anti-trans advocate Riley Gaines.  

Housing and Urban Development: Scott Turner was also confirmed as Secretary of HUD earlier this month. One of his first official acts was overturning the Equal Access Rule, which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status. This action is likely to mean transgender women (including youth) can be denied access to women’s shelters, thus creating a significant risk of increased violence.  

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Dr. Oz is making his rounds at the Capitol trying to win over support from Senators before his nomination hearing, the date of which is still TBD.  

If you are a street medicine provider and you’re interested in participating in an online survey examining the impact of criminalization laws on patients and care, please reach out to Sophie Roe, MPH student at the  at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, at SRoe@som.geisinger.edu.  

Know a Health Care for the Homeless hero? Interested in serving on one of the steering committees that help guide and support the work of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council? We want to hear from you!

Register here for NHCHC's annual conference

Laura Brennan
Senior Policy Manager
National Health Care for the Homeless Council

lbrennan@nhchc.org

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