Derrick Van Orden is facing further scrutiny after he cast the deciding vote last week to slash Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) – despite repeatedly telling Wisconsinites he’d oppose Medicaid and SNAP cuts, and then lying about the cuts he just rubberstamped.
Now, local residents are “raising their concerns” about Van Orden’s vote to gut Medicaid, as new reporting highlights the “devastating” impact that cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will have on his constituents.
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WQOW: Local Medicaid recipients bring concerns to Van Orden’s office over budget bill
- Local residents are raising their concerns with Congressman Derrick Van Orden’s office after the House of Representatives passed a budget bill that could impact people on Medicaid.
- Sara Ring is worried for her sister who is disabled and on Medicaid, and what could happen if she lost coverage.
- “My parents would not be able to take care of my sister. I and my siblings have been stepping in to help take care of her because we can’t find caregivers for my sister as it is,” Ring said. “So what would happen is she would be sent to an institution.”
- The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill, if passed, would eliminate coverage for about 13.7 million people.
Huff Post: GOP Congressman Falsely Claims Trump’s Tax Bill Won’t Cut Medicaid, Food Benefits
- Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) says Republicans aren’t actually cutting anyone’s federal health or food benefits in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill — a plan that slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid and food assistance programs.
- It’s not clear what the GOP congressman is talking about. Trump’s hugely consequential tax and spending bill, which House Republicans passed Thursday and sent to the Senate, represents the largest upward transfer of wealth in U.S. history. It cuts $1 trillion from federal health and food programs to help pay for $4 trillion in new tax cuts to rich people.
- The effects of this bill, if it became law, would be devastating for millions of low-income people who rely on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food stamps program.
- In Van Orden’s own community, Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, about 152,900 people — or 21% of the district — depend on Medicaid for health coverage, per an analysis by KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. Approximately 50,000 of the Medicaid enrollees in Van Orden’s district are children, and 21,600 are seniors. More than 20,000 are people with disabilities.
- Thousands of people in his district rely on SNAP benefits, too. The GOP tax bill puts about 8,000 adults in Van Orden’s district at risk of losing all food assistance, and about 16,000 people at risk of losing at least some food benefits, per an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. These figures include thousands of people who live with school-aged children.
Newsweek: SNAP Benefit Cut Warning Issued in State Trump Won by 1%
- Proposed federal changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will “drive Wisconsinites into hunger” and harm the state’s economy, according to new analysis.
- The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) said the state would lose some $314 million in food assistance from the federal government under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which passed the House of Representatives last week.
- In Wisconsin, more than 700,000 people rely on food stamp payments to buy groceries.
- The DHS estimates that some 90,000 people would lose access to their benefits if the cuts are enacted.
- Meanwhile, Wisconsin Representative Derrick Van Orden, a Republican, who has previously said he opposes any cuts to the SNAP program, voted in favor of the GOP budget last week.
WEAU: Citizen Action of Wisconsin visited Derrick Van Orden’s office about Medicaid changes
- …Citizen Action of Wisconsin spoke out against changes to the Medicaid program Friday, paying a visit to Representative Derrick Van Orden’s office.
- They claim Van Orden did not honor his promise to vote ‘no’ to a budget bill that included cuts to Medicaid. According to the congressional budget office, the bill will take away the healthcare of nearly 14 million Americans.
- Citizen Action of Wisconsin said that it includes over 11,000 Wisconsinites in the 3rd Congressional District.
- The group gave a list of reasons why they were against cuts to the program, including saying that hospitals will need to take care of patients even if they don’t have insurance.
- “They are still taken care of because that is the obligation of our health systems, to take care of people. And so, the hospitals and the clinics and other health agencies will incur those costs regardless. And so, we could see more rural hospitals closing as a result,” the group said.
