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 9, 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 9, 2025
- Economic Policy Institute: “Work requirements effectively function like a cut to programs.” EPI explained that “while work requirements do not reliably increase employment, they do significantly increase the administrative burden and costs of applying for safety net programs. This increased administrative burden, in turn, reduces access and take-up.” EPI further explained, “In many cases, the sheer amount of additional administrative burdens levied on adults seeking benefits, and on case workers screening to ensure that work requirements are met, is a major driver in the decline in participation.” [Economic Policy Institute, 1/24/25]
Media Matters
June 9, 2025
The effects will be far-reaching. Eligible “tipped” workers will likely be defined as those in the restaurant and service industries. According to the Economic Policy Institute, they are overwhelmingly minority, women, single parents and younger than 35. Most would welcome the financial help, but is this the right kind of help?
The legislation in Congress overlooks an opportunity to do something more for this group: save for retirement.
Washington Times
June 9, 2025
According to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute think tank the bill would raise public debt “by over $3 trillion in coming years (and over $5 trillion over the next decade if provisions are made permanent rather than phasing out).”
Newsweek
June 9, 2025
A new joint report by Rutgers and Northwestern universities found that the staffing levels at the federal labor offices handling minimum wage and overtime laws are at their lowest levels in decades, which the authors of the study said open the door to wage theft and other workplace abuses.
The staffing decline is nothing new — the numbers have been declining since 2000 to reach their lowest levels since the 1970s, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, a think-tank based in Washington.
NorthJersey.com
June 9, 2025
A panel of expert judges – including respected leaders from across industries – will evaluate the submissions. Confirmed judges include…Dr. Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute.
U.S. News & World Report
June 9, 2025
Back in 2016, the Economic Policy Institute found that raising the minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.00 per hour back in the day in California decreased state public assistance payments by $2.7 billion. It only makes sense.
Hartmann Report
June 9, 2025
An open letter by six Nobel laureate economists from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute said: “The most acute and immediate damage stemming from this bill would be felt by the millions of American families losing key safety net protections like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
“The Medicaid cuts constitute a sad step backward in the nation’s commitment to providing access to health care for all. Proponents of the House bill often claim that these Medicaid cuts can be achieved simply by imposing work reporting requirements on healthy, working-age adults.
“But healthy, working-age adults are by definition not heavy consumers of health spending, so achieving the budgeted Medicaid cuts will obviously harm others as well.”
Newsweek
June 9, 2025
The bill’s critics are hoping it may see some change’s in Congress’s upper house. Those include six Nobel-prize winning economists, who this week penned an open letter published through the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
“As economists who have devoted our careers to researching how economies can grow and how the benefits of this growth can be translated into broadly shared prosperity and security, we have grave concerns about the budget reconciliation bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22, 2025,” the letter says.
CNBC
June 9, 2025