Jayapal (D) On MSDNC: “Republicans Want To Slash Healthcare From The American People.”

On MSNBC, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) accused Republicans of gutting healthcare and abandoning the American people.

JayPal said:

“Their ideas for fixing healthcare was when they passed the big bad betrayal bill that cut 15 million Americans off of healthcare, because they slashed Medicaid by a trillion dollars. That’s why rural hospitals are slated to close. That’s why people are already starting to feel the hurt of what’s gonna happen when the nursing home closes, what’s gonna happen when I don’t have my Medicaid...

He was trying to blame it on the immigrants. All these things have been lies. Here is the truth. There is one truth and it is that Republicans do not want to fix healthcare. They want to slash healthcare from the American people.”

Jayapal’s claim that Republicans “cut 15 million Americans off healthcare” isn’t based on real data. It’s a projection, not an event. No existing program was eliminated, and no one was “cut off.”

Her “trillion-dollar cut” line is also misleading. That figure refers to a ten-year reduction in projected spending growth, not a sudden slash in benefits. Medicaid funding would still increase each year, just at a slower rate than Democrats wanted.

After the pandemic, Medicaid enrollment surged to more than 92 million people due to emergency rules that prevented states from removing ineligible recipients. When those temporary rules ended, states began normal eligibility checks again. Some people lost coverage because they no longer qualified — but that process had nothing to do with Trump or any Republican bill.

The real policy debate isn’t about taking healthcare away from Americans — it’s about how far taxpayer-funded healthcare should extend, including to non-citizens. In states like California, Illinois, and New York, Democrats have expanded state-funded Medicaid programs to cover illegal aliens and have pushed for more federal support to offset those costs. Republicans oppose using federal money for that purpose and argue that Medicaid should prioritize citizens and legal residents.

Democrats refused to remove those broader funding provisions during negotiations, contributing to the current standoff. Then, as usual, they blamed Republicans for “taking away healthcare.”

Jayapal’s rhetoric may play well on MSNBC, but the facts tell a different story. Her numbers are projections, not proof — and the fight isn’t about Americans losing healthcare. It’s about whether taxpayers should fund it for people who aren’t in the USA legally.

Democrats didn’t shut the government down to protect Americans’ healthcare — they shut it down rather than give up funding tied to programs that also cover people in the USA illegally.