Shasta Health Officials Warn of Major Medicaid Cuts in Federal Budget Bill
As Trump’s budget bill advances, local health officials say thousands could lose coverage due to Medicaid cuts, deeply impacting the Shasta County community.
Health care officials in Shasta County are warning the community about potential major impacts from cuts to Medicaid as part of President Donald Trump’s federal budget proposal known as the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
Shasta Community Health Center (SCHC) hosted an event last night, June 30, alongside local leadership from the League of Women Voters to discuss what these cuts could mean for Shasta County residents, as well as to address concerns from the community.
Around 30 people attended the session, titled “How Changes to Medicaid Could Affect You and Your Community,” with several more joining online. The conversation was led by SCHC CEO Brandon Thornock and Shasta Regional Medical Center CEO Sam Itani.
Thornock said thousands of people in Shasta County could lose coverage if the proposed cuts to Medicaid go into effect and Itani emphasized a similar point, saying people need to consider how potential cuts will affect those who could lose access to Medicaid.
“It’s not the rich who are going to get impacted,” Itani said. “It’s those who cannot afford health care that will be impacted the most.”
Here’s what you should know about Medicaid cuts, and how they will affect Shasta County
The Senate passed the budget reconciliation bill earlier today, but it still needs approval from the House of Representatives before Trump can sign it into law. Changes to the bill made by the Senate before it was passed include adjustments to how it would impact Medicaid.
Nationwide, around 71 million people were enrolled in Medicaid as of March. According to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Congressional Budget Office, the bill in its current form would cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid’s total funding. The CBO estimates that 11.8 million, or about 17%, of Americans currently receiving Medicaid would become uninsured by 2034 under the current bill.
The Senate’s bill would impose a new work requirement for adults receiving Medicaid, which would require able-bodied adults, including older people up to age 65 and parents of children 14 and older, to work 80 hours a month to receive benefits. The requirement would extend to the approximately one-third of adults on Medicaid with mental health diagnoses. The bill would also cap and reduce the tax states can impose on Medicaid providers.
Thornock said at last night’s event that about 66,000 people in Shasta County, which is a third of its population, rely on Medicaid services — and if the proposed cuts go into effect, about 7,000 of those residents would lose coverage. That would include some on Medi-Cal, which is California’s Medicaid program, as well as some covered by the Partnership HealthPlan, an organization that contracts with the state to administer Medi-Cal benefits in certain counties, including Shasta.
Since Medicaid services are subsidized by the federal government but run by the state, Thornock explained that California will have to make tough decisions if the federal government cuts funding, like whether to cut Medicaid services statewide or instead cut portions of other programs, such as education or transportation programs, to make room in the state budget to continue to provide health care.
He said in addition to impacts on individuals, the Medicaid cuts would have various effects on local health care systems. Rural hospitals would suffer since a majority of their population is on Medicaid, and health centers that provide services to uninsured people, such as SCHC, would start getting flooded with additional clients. He said this would cause health centers like his to face the challenge of properly paying hospital staff because they would lose money from providing care to people who can’t pay.
“I have all these staff that expect that their paycheck is going to arrive in their bank accounts every two weeks, and as we have fewer and fewer dollars to cover the resources that we provide for … some of the most vulnerable in our community, I and my team eventually have to look and say, ‘What can we offer, and what can’t we offer?’” Thornock told Shasta Scout after the event. “And then we have to start cutting off programs, cutting off resources that truly make a difference in these people’s lives.”
Tim Sharp, the regional director of Partnership HealthPlan, said after the event that another result of the cuts to Medicaid might be newly-uninsured people waiting to seek medical care until their condition worsens, leading to an increase in life-threatening clients showing up in emergency rooms. He also emphasized the point that emergency rooms are likely to get much busier since uninsured people often rely on ERs, which cannot legally turn patients away, for care.
“If you suddenly have 7,000 people in Shasta County who could lose coverage, if these percentages hold true and they all end up in the ER because they can’t go in and see their primary care physician, that’s going to significantly increase wait times in the ERs in hospitals,” he said.
What the community is concerned about
Frank Treadway, who is 83 and on MediCal, attended the event. He said he’s personally worried about the potential cuts and the uncertainty of them.
“Many of my friends are in the same boat,” he said. “If anything is cut, then we all suffer together. A lot of us are one social security check away from being on the street.”
Another audience member, who said he is autistic and has OCD, noted that he is unable to work due to his mental health needs. He raised concern about the new 80-hours-a-month work requirement and if he would be forced to work in order to keep receiving Medicaid services.
Thornock told him that people unable to work would need to provide documentation to prove their inability every six months, which could get difficult and tedious.
The White House released an alleged fact-check article about the “Big, Beautiful Bill” on June 29, incorrectly stating that “there will be no cuts to Medicaid” and that the bill will instead eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
An audience member addressed the “waste, fraud, and abuse” claims at the event, asking Thornock and Itani if they’ve seen these claims in their roles and if they’re aware of people taking advantage of Medicaid.
“These are real people with real challenges that truly need our help,” Thornock responded. “You just do not see ramped-up amounts of people just lying through their teeth or whatever, sitting around twiddling their thumbs, taking advantage of the system.”
Multiple audience members expressed their frustration with Representative Doug LaMalfa for, they said, not being accessible to hear their concerns about Medicaid cuts. LaMalfa did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment, but in a May 22 press release, he praised the changes to Medicaid in the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House.
Still, officials at the event strongly encouraged those with concerns to contact LaMalfa, with one bringing up that the public lands provision of the budget reconciliation bill was removed largely due to significant public outcry.
“I think people need to realize that even if you’re feeling like you’re getting stonewalled, this is such an important topic,” Thornock said, who added that he’s flown out to Washington, D.C. multiple times to meet with LaMalfa’s staff about this issue. “We can’t rest on our laurels and just let whatever is going to happen happen. We’ve got to say something, and we need to say it loudly, and we need to say it over and over again.”
Madison Holcomb is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2025 summer intern with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
Comments (22)
Comments are closed.
Related Articles
Killing of armed Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti ignites 2A debate in conservative Shasta County
Second Amendment supporters in Shasta County including some with connections to a local militia, weigh in on topics including the right to carry at protests and the federal government’s current approach to immigration enforcement.
Race for Shasta’s District 5 gets crowded as Anderson council member Mike Gallagher announces candidacy
Gallagher, who’s in his second term on the Anderson City Council, joins former Supervisor Tim Garman and current Supervisor Chris Kelstrom in a race for the seat. The three will face off during the primary in June.
Activist sentenced to three months for disrupting Shasta County board meeting, released with ankle monitor
Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was recently convicted for meeting disruption after a peaceful protest at the county boardroom. Today, a visiting Shasta County judge sentenced her to three months in jail. She’s already been released on house arrest, with an ankle monitor.
This BBB is felon47 answer to Obamacare. He always claimed to have a Better healthcare plan. While he never claimed what the plan was or how it will work but here it is.
One thing that keeps getting left out of this issue is what a piss-poor program Medi-Cal is. Just try to find doctors who will accept Medi-Cal. Far from needing cuts, Medi-Cal needs far more money. Since Doug LaMalfa and his Maga cronies are so fond of cutting things, how about cutting the trillion-dollar tax cuts for the wealthy.
Trump spreads false claims on immigrant aid
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Updated 1:25 PM PDT, November 28, 2018
This guy is a regular fake news Trump basher. Your source of information is false. Try again.
Ryan: you haven’t actually given any facts to back your claim of fake news Trump bashing.
Shasta Community Health Center (SCHC) CEO Brandon Thornock.
“I have all these staff that expect that their paycheck is going to arrive in their bank accounts every two weeks”
Seems like that is his primary concern. He might want to spend more time listening to patients and providing better service.
They would require able bodied adults to work at least parttime in order to get free medical services? Also, in California illegal aliens get free medical care at the expense of taxpayers. I can understand why we need to fix the system.
Margo: These kind of changes can sound common sense at first. One thing I think about though is the many unhoused individuals I’ve met with during my reporting whose medical insurance would be cut if they don’t work. They’re not working due to a number of intersecting and complex mental health diagnoses. So I think its complicated.
And so these people which is a very very minuscule handful should be dealt with individually on an individual basis! And by the way, all of you on this thread are more than welcome to donate money every single month to a fund that pays for their medical insurance! I defy any of you to do it!
“Over nine in 10 adults covered by Medicaid are working or could qualify for an exemption because, for example, they’re a parent caring for children, ill or in school. Yet the Congressional Budget Office estimates the requirement would result in about five million Americans losing insurance. People would largely lose insurance not because they were ineligible under the new requirements, but because of added red tape. States could require Medicaid enrollees to report work or exemptions as often as every month, and many people would probably fail to navigate this process. That’s exactly what happened when Arkansas had a Medicaid work requirement in 2018, before it was overturned by the courts.” – Larry Levitt, VP at KFF
Shasta County- guess you get what you vote for. but hey, you owned the libs. Congratulations on voting to end your healthcare and USAID support of local farmers.
Didn’t they cut USAID because we need to spend our money on poor people in the US? Now They’re cutting Medicaid and SNAP to spend the money on poor billionaires in the US.
Thank you for this report and the quick link to write to LaMalfa.
The White House released an alleged fact-check article about the “Big, Beautiful Bill” on June 29, incorrectly stating that “there will be no cuts to Medicaid” and that the bill will instead eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse.” This sure seems like opinion. Does it have a place in alleged fact based reporting?
Curtis: I agree the White House’s fact sheet does seem like opinion since it contradicts known facts, as linked in the article.
“The White House’s fact sheet does seem like opinion since it contradicts known facts”
Please provide facts to back this up.
Ryan: already linked in the story, however, in response to this statement: “White House: FACT: As the President has said numerous times, there will be no cuts to Medicaid.” Here’s what the nonpartisan congressional budget office indicated. Here’s what the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has written.
Madison, thank you, well done. Locally and nationally, health services will be cut if Trump’s MAGA Ugly Bill passes the House. In fact, the just-passed Senate bill’s cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act would cause 17 million people to lose their public insurance benefits. Trump’s bill would also significantly impact veterans’ healthcare and other veteran assistance programs. Additionally, 4.7 million to 5.4 million people are losing some or all SNAP benefits, and the USDA is canceling $1 billion in funding for programs that help schools and food banks purchase food directly from local farms, leading to reduced benefits or even loss of assistance for seniors. BUT THAT’S THE POINT! It’s about causing as much harm as possible by the TRANSFER OF WEALTH from those who have little or nothing to those who do, at the cost to taxpayers. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this transfer would add 4 trillion dollars to the national debt, increasing or widening disparities in economic and social outcomes based on income, race, or other demographics. You see, Trump and LaMalfa (who lie about not cutting Medicaid), and their 1% buddies are really hurting. After all, those MAGA yachts and international vacation homes are costly! And we all know you can’t just have two or three of them, or just one or two billion in the bank. On June 2, 2026, Primary Election, let’s vote the King’s MAGA out. They are not representing the 99% of us!
Thank you for covering this event, Madison. This is such an incredibly significant topic for our community, it was disappointing that the audience was so small.
Yep!!! Absolutely needs to happen! Adults finally back in charge! There are millions of illegal Aliens who are receiving up to 3600.00 a month! Please report responsibly !! The left tricks are so egregious!
Wasn’t true then and isn’t true now. It’s not the left lying.
https://apnews.com/united-states-government-fb45e3fb8e664c45a9d18ae922bf4adf
JS, Please provide irrefutable proof that ‘millions of illegal Aliens’ are receiving up to $3600. p/month. You tend to be a flame-fanner, not nice when you don’t provide a backup statement
Dear Jon,
It seems as if you have a feeling about this statement and not the facts. There are numerous reputable sources that state this. Here are a few:
One from Georgetown University, School of Public Policy – https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/05/21/the-truth-about-medicaid-coverage-for-immigrants-and-the-looming-threats/
Another from KFF, an independent health policy research organization, – https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/fact-sheet/key-facts-on-health-coverage-of-immigrants/.
As a parent to an adult child with severe developmental disabilities, I am frightened for his future and all those like him. Cuts to Medicaid, affect communities like ours so egregiously. (as we are already struggling to get proper medical care here) From longer wait times in hospitals, less access to specialized physicians, and even longer times to get appointments with primary care doctors. These cuts and this BB Bill will go down as one of the worst things to happen to the USA. This is not Making America Great Again. It’s just a sham to give billionaires more tax breaks.