Exclusive | The U.S. Senate is poised to take up the reconciliation bill — also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill” in the coming weeks. Our senator, Lindsey Graham, has indicated his enthusiastic support for it, tweeting that the sooner the bill gets signed into law, the better.
A key piece of the bill is cuts to Medicaid, which would cause millions of Americans to lose health care coverage, including 1.1 million South Carolinians who are enrolled in Medicaid. This is apparently not a dealbreaker for Graham, who once called Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, “promises we can’t keep.”
The fact is, the “Big Beautiful Bill” will be ugly for rural communities and working families in South Carolina.
The cuts to Medicaid in this bill would have devastating effects on maternal health in our state. For context, Medicaid covers 60% of births in South Carolina.
This, coupled with the alarming fact that one third of counties in South Carolina don’t have an obstetrician or gynecologist and that rural hospitals are closing across our state at a troubling rate, has created an unbearable situation for mothers and working families.
Instead of advocating for more funding and pushing to reverse these hospital closures, Graham and Republicans in Washington, D.C., are pushing for cuts that would make the crisis even worse. If this bill becomes law, more South Carolinians will be uninsured. More hospitals and medical centers will shut down.
We need leaders who will fight for our communities and protect our families. That’s why I’m running for the U.S. Senate.
South Carolina has some of the strictest Medicaid rules in the country. We didn’t expand care when the Affordable Care Act passed, and now Republicans want to cut what little we have left. I’m running to protect our families – not make their lives harder.
Lindsey Graham has spent over three decades in Washington putting politics over people. He’s backed cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, pushed to raise the retirement age, and voted time and again against working families. South Carolina deserves a senator who shows up for us—not one who sells us out.
If elected, I’ll fight to protect Medicaid, make health care more affordable and accessible, and bring down the price of prescription drugs – because it’s the right thing to do.
Johnson is a Greenville businessman running for Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. More info.
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