The impacts of congressional Republicans’ proposed Medicaid cuts would be most destructive for those directly impacted—the millions of people who would be forced to pay more for coverage, subjected to onerous red tape, or kicked off benefits entirely.
But economist Josh Bivens observes in a new analysis that the damage caused by the GOP’s assault on Medicaid would be far-reaching, hitting local economies throughout the United States and forcing rural hospitals to close.
“Even during times when the national unemployment rate is low, tens of millions live in weaker local economies with higher county unemployment rates and far less ability to weather sharp spending shocks like a Medicaid cutback would provide,” wrote Bivens, the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), in a Tuesday post. “In fact, a disproportionate share of the House bill’s Medicaid cuts would almost surely fall exactly on these weaker local economies.”
Common Dreams
June 5, 2025
However, before Musk took to X to begin his tirade against the bill, six Nobel laureates in economics published a joint letter through the Economic Policy Institute, which contained a grave warning about the legislative package under consideration. The work of the six economists addresses, to some extent, market failures, institutional inefficiencies, and the role of policy in addressing inequality.
El Diario
June 5, 2025
When wages aren’t paid, they aren’t spent, and they aren’t taxed. That shrinks the economy, reducing buying power for consumers and municipalities alike. According to the Economic Policy Institute, research shows that minimum wage violations increase poverty among workers experiencing wage theft by 40.6% in New York.
My Twin Tiers
June 5, 2025
Adam Hersh of The Economic Policy Institute and John Whiten of The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy are our guests.
The Rick Smith Show
June 5, 2025
Data largely supports her perspective. The National Association of Realtors found the median existing-home price in the U.S. reached $414,800 in April 2025—up from just over $170,000 in 2012. Meanwhile, real wages for most American workers have remained largely stagnant since the 1970s, as shown in a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
Newsweek
June 5, 2025
According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than half of all Black children under age 19 rely on public health insurance like Medicaid. For some, this means coverage outside of school — doctor’s visits, prescriptions, and other care. But for many Black students in under-resourced schools, school is often the only place they can get health services at all.
Word in Black
June 5, 2025
“By increasing penalties, New York is taking a critical step toward ensuring that employers who violate the law are held accountable and that illegally employing minors isn’t just the cost of doing business,” said Nina Mast, a policy and economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.
City Limits
June 5, 2025
Starbucks has a long history of resisting union efforts. The Economic Policy Institute reports the company has previously attempted to shut down stores with unionization efforts and retaliated against unionized workers to deter organization.
The Daily Cardinal
June 5, 2025
If the current bill becomes law, annual cuts to Medicaid would average over $70 billion over the coming years — the same amount millionaires and billionaires would gain in tax cuts each year, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Even with those cuts to critical health care programs, the budget package is projected to increase the national debt by $3.1 trillion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. In an open letter to the Senate on Monday, EPI and six Nobel laureate economists said the nation’s structural deficits are already too high, and the bill would put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates while reducing incomes for the bottom 40 percent of earners. Taken together, the economists wrote, “the House budget constitutes an extremely large upward redistribution of income” while adding to the national debt.
Truthout
June 5, 2025
Opponents of I-82, including the Employment Policies Institute — not to be confused with the older and pro I-82 Economic Policy Institute — have claimed BLS data for restaurants and bars show that I-82 led to an $11.8 million decrease in pay for restaurant workers from May 2023 to September 2024.
Restaurant Dive
June 5, 2025