Courtney Grills Sec. Kennedy on Newly Uninsured Americans & Trump Proposal to Send Medicaid, Medicare to States

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, grilled Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the 1.2 million people who have lost their health insurance under the Trump Administration health care policies thus far, and the millions more expected to lose coverage thanks to the One Big Ugly Bill.

"Your uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy… declared, 'Universal health care is the cause of my life,' and was lead sponsor of the Affordable Care Act when it was introduced in 2009. He did not live to see its enactment, but we know now that the ACA successfully cut the uninsured rate in half by 2024, prior to your arrival at HHS," Courtney said. "Clearly, universal health care is not the cause of your life. On your watch at HHS, we've seen a massive jump in the uninsured population. Since January 2025, 1.2 million have already lost coverage thanks to the Trump Administration's refusal to extend the ACA enhanced tax credits, even though we passed a bipartisan bill in the House to do so."

Courtney continued by asking Secretary Kennedy if he supports President Trump's position that the federal government should send Medicaid and Medicare to the states. On April 1st, 2026, at a White House event, President Trump said, "It's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis."