Health Leaders Warn Federal Medicaid Cuts Deepen Rural Health Crisis, Increase Costs for Families

Concord, NH – New Hampshire health care providers, advocates, and policy leaders joined Protect Our Care New Hampshire today to discuss a new report that shows how major federal Medicaid cuts impact New Hampshire families, health care providers, and the state budget. Republicans in Congress have made the largest health care cuts in history, resulting in a $2 billion cut from the state Medicaid budget over the next decade. Speakers warned that major cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will significantly impact health care access, hospital stability, and family finances across the Granite State.

Speakers included Kayla Montgomery, Vice President of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Edward D. Shanshala II, MSHSA, MSEd, Chief Executive Officer, Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, Inc and State Representative Jennifer Mandelbaum,PhD, MPH, Rockingham District 21 (Portsmouth).

“We’re going to see an already overburdened health care system become even more overwhelmed.” said State Representative Jennifer Mandelbaum, PhD, MPH.

They warned the reductions will increase pressure on rural hospitals, behavioral health providers, reproductive health care services, and community health centers already struggling with workforce shortages and rising costs. The discussion focused heavily on the impact on rural and underserved communities, where health care systems often operate on narrow margins and where Medicaid plays a critical role in sustaining services.

“When Medicaid goes away and we disinvest in our friends’, families’, and neighbors’ health, people put off care until it becomes an emergency,” said Edward D. Shanshala II.

Medicaid currently provides health coverage to more than 154,000 Granite Staters and 68 million nationwide, including children, seniors, people with disabilities, low-income workers, and many residents receiving mental health or substance use treatment services. Health care leaders warned that cuts to Medicaid will lead to higher uninsured rates, rising uncompensated care costs, and increased financial instability throughout the health care system. Some 15 million people risk losing their coverage.

The conversation also highlighted growing concerns about the broader affordability crisis facing New Hampshire families, including rising insurance premiums, childcare costs, housing pressures, and ongoing provider shortages.

Kayla Montgomery, Vice President of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England commented that “If people can’t get health care when they need it because they can’t afford it, they delay care — and when they delay care, they become sicker, and that becomes more expensive for everyone. Relying on philanthropy is no way to deliver health care to an entire state.”

Edward D. Shanshala II, MSHSA, MSEd, Chief Executive Officer, Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, said that “it’s a tragic statement of a failed society that people didn’t get behavioral health care on the front end, and now we’re providing it through incarceration. For every dollar we invest in primary preventive care, we save $13 later.”

State Representative Jennifer Mandelbaum, PhD, MPH commented that "we already have areas in New Hampshire where the patient-to-primary-care-provider ratio is nearly 2,000 to one.”

You can watch the full event here, and learn more about GOP attacks on Medicaid here.