GRAND RAPIDS, MI — U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, said she’s “deeply worried” and is raising the alarm about potential impacts of recent legislation on Michigan’s healthcare system.
Slotkin visited Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital on Monday to help understand “in black and white what the Big Beautiful Bill is going to do to their bottom line, to services around the state.”
Following a tour of the Grand Rapids healthcare facility, the first-term Michigan senator discussed impacts of the new law which cut funding for hospitals and cancer research.
“I don’t know a single Michigander who feels like they’re paying too little for their health insurance,” Slotkin said. “Everyone’s going to pay. You’re either at risk of losing your care or you’re at risk of paying more for the insurance you already have.”
The cuts, which some state and health industry leaders have decried as hurting hospitals and reducing available services, were housed in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law on July 4 last month.
The $4.5 trillion tax cuts and spending package also included significant cuts to Medicaid by inserting work requirements for able-bodied people, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.
“What that really means is really hard conversations across the state on whether we keep services open like labor and delivery,” Slotkin said. “You tell a rural hospital they’re going to lose money, they start cutting services. You start cutting services in a rural area, people literally will drive hours and hours to give birth to a baby.”
State and health industry leaders have also said the Big Beautiful Bill could result in higher costs for Michiganders with private and employer-provided health insurance as hospitals try to recoup losses, and longer emergency room wait times in areas already burdened by staff shortages.
“I want healthcare,” Slotkin said, “which I think is really not settled in the United States of America. We’re not settled as a country on how we provide healthcare to our people. I think no one wants deep cuts and raising of prices.”
To watch Slotkin’s full comments, click here or visit MLive on YouTube.
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