“Big Beautiful Bill” Puts Local Nursing Homes at Risk

We reported on the risks to our local hospitals from proposed cuts to the federal Medicaid program in an earlier post.  If that wasn’t scary enough, the budget bill currently being debated in the Senate envisions even larger cuts to our rural healthcare system than did the House version of the bill – up to $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid funding over the next ten years!

The impacts on local nursing home care could be devasting.

Imagine driving up Highway 4 on a quiet morning—oak trees, mountain air, the familiar comfort of our rural life. Now imagine what it would feel like if your aging parent, grandparent, or disabled spouse was suddenly evicted from a nursing home, or if you had to quit your job to become their full-time caregiver, with no notice and no financial support.

That’s not a scare tactic. That’s the very real risk Calaveras County families could face if Congress passes the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which could slash nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid (MediCal in California) over the next ten years —the program that funds care for more than 6 in 10 nursing home residents in California and nationwide, including at local nursing homes such as Golden San Andreas Care Center or Avalon Health Care in San Andreas, which both house up to 99 medically fragile patients – potentially your family members, friends and neighbors.

🚨 What’s in the “Big Beautiful Bill?”

The bill includes:

• A massive cut to Medicaid over the next decade (nearly $1 trillion if the Senate version of the bill passes)
• A rollback of the provider tax mechanism many states (including California) rely on to fund long-term care services
• A fundamental restructuring of Medicaid that could leave rural counties like ours on the chopping block

🏥 Why It Matters in Calaveras County

Calaveras is rural, aging, and working-class. Many residents here have worked their whole lives—loggers, teachers, nurses, small business owners—and now rely on MediCal to help cover skilled nursing care, home-based support, or care in local facilities like Golden or Avalon Health Care.  The average cost per month in a nursing care facility is $7-10K – could you afford that without any subdidy?

If this bill passes:

• Nursing homes may stop accepting Medicaid patients
• Local facilities may close entirely and the jobs they supported will go away
• Family caregivers—many unpaid—will be forced to step in
• Our local economy, already fragile, will suffer

It’s easy for politicians in D.C. to treat rural counties as expendable. It’s unacceptable when they openly say so, as Senator Mitch McConnell did, when he suggested that people who lose their health insurance will “…get over it,” or Senator Joni Earnst did when she said “We are all going to die,”  implying nobody really needs health coverage because we are mere mortals.  And our own Representative, Tom McClintock, has show us repeatedly in words and actions that he feels the same way – by voting in favor of these these devastating MediCal cuts when the bill passed in the House of Representative.

👪 What Would Happen to Our Families?

• Seniors and disabled residents could be forced out of facilities with nowhere else to go
• Families would lose wages, quit jobs, or burn through savings to try and provide care themselves
• Many would face emotional and physical burnout
• Young children and multi-generational households would absorb the stress

And because Medicaid is a state-federal partnership, this cut forces California to either raise taxes or cut elsewhere. That means less money for schools, infrastructure, and local services.

🧭 A Moral and Economic Catastrophe

Medicaid is not charity. It’s earned support, part of a social contract that says if you work hard, play by the rules, and grow old, you’ll be treated with dignity.

Calaveras County residents know something about dignity. We take care of our neighbors. But this bill breaks that promise. And those pushing it—like our Congressional Representative Tom McClintock—are doing so at the expense of our families, our economy, and our future.  Once the bill passes the Senate, it will go back to the House for another round of debate and vote – so let your Rep know what you think, before its too late.