With health care for more than 1.5 million New Yorkers at risk, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced Thursday plans to introduce legislation next week that would reverse Republican-approved cuts to Medicaid finalized this year and permanently extend tax credits for health care set to expire at the end of the year.

The Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act would repeal what Schumer, D-NY, describes as “devastating cuts” to Medicaid that will not only rip health coverage away from millions across the country, but jeopardizes the future of rural hospitals at a time when many are already struggling to stay open.

“This is terrible,” Schumer said of the cuts approved last month as part of the One Big Beautiful Act reconciliation package. “Our hospitals are struggling in terms of financing. They give great care, but they’re right on the razor’s edge, and this makes things worse.”

The entire Democratic caucus has signed on to co-sponsor the legislation, according to Schumer, who said he plans to introduce the legislation when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day.

Just four Republicans have to vote in favor of the legislation for it to pass, though it’s unclear if the legislation will receive bipartisan support.

It’s also unlikely that the bill would be supported by Republican President Donald Trump, who pushed for the cuts to fund his agenda and extend tax cuts approved during his first term in office.

“We get great support from Republicans at the state, county and municipal levels,” Schumer said. “A lot of your legislators who may be Republican here in the country, don’t want these cuts, but it’s got to be conveyed to the Republican Congress.”

Schumer spoke at a press event held at St. Mary’s Healthcare in Amsterdam, a rural hospital that receives around 28% of its annual revenue from Medicaid reimbursements, the equivalent of about $40 million, according to Jeff Methven, the hospital’s president and CEO.

St. Mary’s serves around 400,000 patients a year, including 35,000 on Medicaid, and has long grappled with fiscal strains. The hospital was one of 18 rural hospitals found to be in financial distress by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a health policy group that based its findings on two-year margin of fiscal loss for total operations.

More than 1,600 people are employed by St. Mary’s, according to Methven, who said the hospital continues to reassess its services to “ensure the best quality care to patients.”

“Reducing Medicare and Medicaid payments, especially as operating pharmaceutical and other supply expenses continue to rise, will result in immeasurable harm to the hospitals themselves and the communities we serve,” he said.

But St. Mary’s isn’t the only hospital or health care system at risk because of the cuts.

An analysis of the reconciliation package by the Greater New York Health Association and the Healthcare Association of New York State found that the legislation will lead to $8 billion in health care cuts across the state, and lead to the lost of 34,000 hospital jobs, the equivalent of a 7% reduction.

Schumer, who was joined by U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, criticized Republicans for the cuts that he said will fund tax breaks for billionaires at the expense of working class Americans.

More than 15 million people across the country are projected to lose health insurance and more than $1 trillion in health care cuts are projected, according to Schumer.

“I’m not against billionaires. Success is a great thing in America. We all aspire to that. We all like our children and grandchildren to do very well. But they don’t need a tax break, particularly when it comes out of cutting health care,” he said.

Schumer also highlighted the importance of making permanent health care tax credits that were first approved as part of the Affordable Care Act and are set to expire at the end of the year.

The credits reduced the cost for insurance,........

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