FACT CHECK: “Mike Lawler’s Vote for a Nearly $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Puts New Yorkers’ Coverage at Risk”

New reporting from Courier New York exposes Lawler’s blatant lie that he “voted to protect Medicaid,” when in reality “at least 475,000 New Yorkers could lose Medicaid” because of his cowardly votes in Washington.

While Lawler attempts to gaslight his constituents with ads telling voters “You still have your insurance intact. You don’t have any cuts at all,” Lawler’s cruelty has already put two local hospitals at risk of closure and left New Yorkers to pay thousands more for health care or lose their coverage altogether.

DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“No amount of lying can cover up the pain Mike Lawler has inflicted on the Hudson Valley. Hardworking families are sick and tired of being gaslit by a career politician who cares more about pleasing his party bosses than standing up for his constituents, and they will reject his lies come November.”

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Courier New York: Rep Mike Lawler’s vote for a nearly $1 trillion Medicaid cut puts New Yorkers’ coverage at risk

Nearly 14,000 NY-17 enrollees lost eligibility for New York’s expanded Essential Plan this summer, and state officials estimate at least 475,000 New Yorkers could lose Medicaid when work requirements begin in January.

• Rep. Mike Lawler defended his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the 2025 Republican tax-and-spending law, during a News 12 debate on Tuesday, saying, “We voted to protect Medicaid.”
• In New York’s 17th Congressional District, the law’s federal funding cuts have already forced New York to end Essential Plan eligibility for nearly 14,000 enrollees, and the state estimates hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers could lose Medicaid under work requirements that take effect Jan. 1, less than two months after Election Day.
• The Pearl River Republican voted for OBBBA twice. On May 22, 2025, when it cleared the House by a single vote, 215–214, and on July 3, 2025, when the final version passed 218–214. The law is estimated to reduce federal Medicaid spending by $990 billion over a decade, or $911 billion after accounting for overlap between provisions, according to KFF’s analysis of Congressional Budget Office estimates.
• His campaign has pressed the same message in a Facebook ad featuring Ramapo Deputy Supervisor Brendel Logan-Charles, a Democrat, who tells viewers, “You still have your insurance intact. You don’t have any cuts at all.”
• State figures paint a starker picture.
• Because of federal funding cuts in OBBBA, New York ended Essential Plan eligibility on June 30 for enrollees earning between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty level. In NY-17, the change reached 13,987 enrollees, per New York State of Health. 
• Statewide, 41% of affected enrollees had not enrolled in a new marketplace plan by the time the special enrollment period closed Aug. 30.
• Those who did find new coverage often face steep costs. One former enrollee in neighboring Ulster County now pays about $800 a month for a marketplace plan.
• The state Department of Health estimates at least 475,000 New Yorkers could lose Medicaid from the combined effect of work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks, per Attorney General Letitia James’ office.
• In Rockland County, 35% of residents and 46% of children are covered by Medicaid.
• Two Rockland County hospitals, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern and Montefiore Nyack Hospital, appear among 45 New York hospitals that the consumer watchdog Public Citizen considers at risk of closures, layoffs, or reduced services because of the law’s Medicaid cuts, per Hudson Valley Post.
• [Cait] Conley has campaigned on lowering health care costs, along with banning stock trading by members of Congress.
• “He was a deciding vote on the One Great Big Ugly Bill that has ripped healthcare from hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers,” Conley said during the debate.
• Lawler’s office and campaign did not respond to Courier New York’s request for comment.