Duggan defends Trump's Medicaid work rules as critics warn cuts will strip coverage from hundreds of thousands

[demmiblue]

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running for Michigan governor as an independent after decades as a self-proclaimed Democrat, downplayed the impact of sweeping Medicaid cuts under former President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Speaking to business leaders at a Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce event last week, Duggan said the reductions “aren’t as bad as they look” and defended the law’s controversial work requirement for Medicaid recipients.

“You know what the Medicaid work requirement is?” Duggan said. “Either you’re looking for work, or you’re taking high school courses, you’re taking job training courses, or you’re volunteering in your community. If you’re doing any of those things, you keep your Medicaid. There’s no cut.”

…

But health care leaders and Democrats say Duggan is ignoring the reality of Trump’s legislation, which slashes $840 billion from Medicaid over the next decade and adds new administrative barriers that experts say will cause millions of low-income Americans to lose coverage.

Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, warned the cuts “will be disastrous for Michigan health care,” saying hospitals “will be faced with difficult choices that will include eliminating service lines or even entire facilities.” Peters said the bill will cost Michigan hospitals more than $6 billion in Medicaid funding over ten years.

Rural hospitals, many of which are struggling, stand to be hit hardest. In the Upper Peninsula, Ontonagon’s only hospital has closed, Aspirus Health in Ironwood has stopped delivering babies, and Sturgis Hospital recently ended inpatient care. A Republican hospital executive in Hillsdale even called Trump’s bill “devastating,” saying it “is going to hurt lives in this co

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/duggan-defends-trumps-medicaid-work-rules-as-critics-warn-cuts-will-strip-coverage-from-hundreds-of-thousands/