While career liar Mike Lawler continues to tell constituents that his vote for the largest cut to Medicaid in American history somehow strengthens and protects Medicaid, the local hospitals in his district are telling a very different story.
Hospitals across NY-17 are staring down over $100 million in cuts, and The Examiner News reports that Lawler’s Big, Ugly Bill could put Hudson Valley hospitals “under severe pressure,” “driv[e] more residents to emergency rooms,” and “eliminate more than 78,000 healthcare jobs.”
With over 60 percent of New York hospitals “expected to see their annual profits erode entirely,” the president of Northern Westchester Hospital called this crisis “one of the biggest fights in our lives” and said lifelong health care providers have “never seen anything quite like this.”
MEANWHILE: Just last month, Lawler quickly dismissed warnings from local health care providers – opting instead to accuse these hospitals and doctors of “parroting talking points” and lying about the devastating Medicaid cuts hitting their communities.
Read for yourself:
The Examiner News: Lawler Faces Scrutiny as Medicaid Cuts Threaten Local Hospitals
By Idan Yedid | 9/17/2025
- Area lawmakers are warning that Medicaid cuts stemming from the enactment of President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” could put hospitals in the Hudson Valley under severe pressure, potentially forcing service reductions and driving more residents to emergency rooms.
- The legislation has also drawn scrutiny of local Republican Rep. Mike Lawler’s vote, with Democratic-aligned groups highlighting his earlier statements opposing Medicaid cuts.
- Although exact figures are hard to project, Northern Westchester Hospital could lose $5.8 million in Medicaid revenue and Phelps Hospital $6.5 million, part of more than $100 million in cuts projected across Hudson Valley hospitals, according to estimates from the center-left think tank Third Way.
- “There is no way to sugarcoat this,” [Sen. Pete Harckham] replied through a spokesperson. “The Republican budget bill’s massive cuts to healthcare will have a devastating impact here in New York.”
- He also singled out members of New York’s congressional delegation (which includes Lawler) saying they “will deserve the blame for the terrible consequences many New Yorkers will now face.”
- Lawler, whose vote for the bill followed multiple promises to oppose Medicaid cuts, did not provide requests for comment for this article. But last month, the District 17 Republican did appear on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
- “What they’re parroting is the same talking points put out by the state and by the hospital associations,” Lawler said during the interview, prompting a fiery response from co-host Joe Scarborough.
- “You know doctors’ business, you know hospital administrator’s business, better than they know their own business? Is that what you’re telling us here?” Scarborough asked.
- “Local healthcare providers are panicking because their patients’ lives are on the line, and Mike Lawler’s first reaction is to call them liars,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Riya Vashi told The Examiner.
- Derek Anderson, president of Northwell Health’s Northern Westchester Hospital, discussed the gravity of the pending bill. “We’re in probably one of the biggest fights in our lives that we’ve seen in healthcare in a very long time,” he said. “Those who have been in healthcare 30, 40 years have never seen anything quite like this.”
- The cuts are likely to exacerbate the financial strain hospitals already navigate. […] With just a 10 percent cut to Medicaid revenue, 94 out of New York’s 156 hospitals are expected to see their annual profits erode entirely.
- In terms of employment, Medicaid reductions are expected to eliminate more than 78,000 healthcare jobs, leading to an additional 136,000 jobs lost through an economic ripple effect, according to a local legislative office. This loss accounts for over 2 percent of New York State’s workforce. The office said $14.4 billion will be lost in hospital-generated economic activity as a result, weakening the state’s economy.
- In February, before Congress passed the Big Beautiful Bill, Lawler appeared on CNN. “There are many of us, myself included, who will not cut Medicaid benefits to our constituents, period,” Lawler said. “I will not cut Medicaid benefits.”
- “Mike Lawler’s hypocrisy knows no bounds – after reassuring his constituents that he would protect their health care, Lawler turned around and voted to gut Medicaid, obliterate hospital funding, and kill health care jobs,” Vashi said.
- Vashi said the bill was “designed to give huge tax breaks to billionaires by slashing health care and food assistance.”
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