Representative Scott Peters

Dear [salutation],

It's great to be home in San Diego meeting with community members and organizations doing important work in CA50.

Throughout August, my weekly newsletter will feature a series analyzing key policies that affect San Diego. This week I'm talking about healthcare and the consequences of Republicans' "Big Beautiful Bill” on our healthcare system.

Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid

The Republicans' "Big Beautiful Bill," which President Trump signed into law on July 4th, will kick 13 million Americans off their Medicaid and Affordable Care Act health plans, according to an analysis by the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In the district I represent, 156,100 people rely on Medicaid (or Medi-Cal in California) for health coverage. CA50 is the fifth least dependent on Medicaid funding in the country, and even here, 20 percent of residents rely on Medi-Cal. These cuts hurt everyone.

Our hospitals and health centers also rely on Medi-Cal funds to serve patients and make operating ends meet. Medi-Cal cuts put health centers at risk of closing, including Family Health Centers of San Diego, Neighborhood Healthcare, North County Health Project, San Diego American Indian Health Centers, and St. Vincent De Paul Village.

And contrary to what President Trump continues to insist, the bill will significantly cut Medicare, too. That’s because of a budget law called the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, which requires that any policies which make new tax cuts or spending increases be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases elsewhere. As a result, CBO estimates that the Republican bill will lead to $491 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare over the next 10 years, unless Congress acts to prevent them. A $45 billion dollar cut to Medicare is scheduled for 2026, followed by bigger annual cuts every year through 2034.

Fewer Doctors Serving our Communities

Rep. Peters listens to a doctor during the roundtable

The bill also makes drastic changes to student loan borrowing and repayment plans. Most significantly for professional students, it eliminates the Graduate PLUS Loan program. Roughly half of all medical students rely on Grad PLUS loans to pay for school. On average, medical school in the U.S. costs a total of nearly $236,000, and that number is rising every year. In 2020, about 28 percent of medical school students graduated with more debt than is allowed under the new loan limits.

San Diego already faces a growing physician shortage. An aging physician population, increased burnout from the pandemic, relentless bureaucratic burdens, attacks on science, and other factors are all fueling a shortage of physicians. According to the American Medical Association, we will have 125,000 fewer doctors nationwide than we need by 2034.

I hosted a roundtable last week with local health center staff, doctors, residents, and financial aid professionals to talk about how the bill affects San Diego’s future doctors and patients. They shared their concerns with increasing the already heavy financial burden for medical students and the reality that we’ll soon face as a result: fewer doctors, longer wait times, and worse health outcomes for our communities.

Without affordable health insurance, and with fewer doctors and hospitals available to serve our communities, countless preventable illnesses will go untreated. Emergency rooms will be overwhelmed. Americans will have to travel farther and pay more for life-saving care. The “Big Beautiful Bill” will only make Americans sicker.

Scott’s Reads

This Substack post discusses how our outdated regulatory structure gets in the way of a cleaner, more reliable, and affordable energy system.
NPR talks about why electricity costs are rising faster than the rate of inflation.

Finally, I aim for this newsletter to be an informative, fact-based recap of what’s happening in Washington and the work I’m doing to address what’s important to San Diego. If you know folks who would appreciate these updates like you do, please feel free to forward this email or encourage them to sign up to receive them here.

Thanks, and take care.

Scott H. Peters
Member of Congress

Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid

Fewer Doctors Serving our Communities

Scott’s Reads

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