On Friday, former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure; Pennsylvania State Representatives Justin Fleming and Arvind Venkat, MD; and Protect Our Care Pennsylvania’s Michael Berman participated in a press call hosted by Defend America Action to discuss the consequences for Pennsylvanians of what they say is a healthcare crisis.

After Republicans got rid of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits, premiums rose an average of 102 percent for 420,000 Pennsylvanians, with 100,000 losing coverage entirely, Defend America Action stated in a press release. “The GOP’s $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts will push an estimated 340,000 more off their coverage, and 23 Pennsylvania hospitals and clinics are either closing, cutting services, or at risk of closure.”

“What we are seeing from Donald Trump's healthcare cuts is catastrophic,” Venkat said on the call. “There's no other word to describe it. Here in Pennsylvania, as a result of the expiration of the Affordable Care Act, enhanced premium tax credits, we've seen 130,000 confirmed, and that number is rapidly rising, uninsured, who have simply dropped their health insurance as a result of not being able to afford the premiums that exist.”

“Come January 1, it's estimated that an additional 300,000 or more Pennsylvanians will lose access to Medicaid. It is because of so-called work requirements, which have never been shown to actually get people into the workforce, nor have been shown to do anything but to rip healthcare away from eligible individuals,” Venkat added. “I see this as an ER doc; these costs get passed on to all of us in the emergency department.”

“It is because of deliberate policy choices by Donald Trump and his administration to rip healthcare away from millions of Americans in order to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires,” Venkat continued. “There's no reason to sugarcoat this. My only consolation is that just as elections had consequences from 2024, coming up in 2026 there is the opportunity for Pennsylvanians and Americans to change course, and I sincerely hope that they will.”

“I spent my career helping to pass the Affordable Care Act and then had the privilege of being the CMS administrator,” Brooks-LaSure said. “We put a $35 cap on insulin. I remember the last year where we were in office talking to ER doctors across the country who were saying they had actually seen a drop in the number of people that were coming to the emergency room for diabetic instances.” “A cut to people who are eligible, it is a cut eventually to providers,” she remarked.

“Before I joined the General Assembly, I was a mental health and child advocate,” Fleming shared. “Nearly half of Pennsylvania's kids rely on the programs that are being slashed. A 2025 report from Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children found that we now have more than 150,000 children who are uninsured in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” He highlighted the importance of kids having health insurance. “Obamacare was such a key piece of that with the preventative healthcare that was provided.”

The uninsured rate, Fleming said, will lead to more hospital closures. “We're the richest nation in the history of civilization. Let's keep that in mind….We know there are resources here. We see other industrialized democracies do this. We see them take care of their residents…we can do the same.”

Berman agreed, “We have made choices as a country. People made choices in the election, and a lot of people regret those choices now.” A group of leaders has been elected, he said, who are cutting healthcare to line their own pockets. “I think that it's an unconscionable choice that we've made as a country to decide to put everyone's health at risk instead of focusing on improving things.”