Why the health care lobby failed to stop cuts to Medicaid funding

(NPR) Doctors, hospitals, and health insurers for weeks issued dire warnings to Republican lawmakers that millions of people would lose health coverage and hospitals would close if they cut Medicaid funding to help pay for President Donald Trump's big tax and spending bill.

But Republicans ignored those pleas, made even deeper cuts, and sent the legislation to the White House on July 3, where Trump signed it the next day.

The law's passage marked a rare political loss for some of the health industry's biggest players. When unified, doctors, hospitals, and insurers have stood among the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington and have a long track record of blocking or forcing changes to legislation that could hurt them financially.

But health industry lobbyists are catching their breath and assessing the damage after Trump's massive bill raced through Congress in less than two months with only Republican votes.

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/07/14/nx-s1-5465119/health-care-lobby-hospitals-medicaid-cuts