February 25, 2025 was the first of Jeff Van Drew's deciding Medicaid votes, on a budget plan; April 10 brought a second, on the final budget resolution; May 22 a third, when his yes let the One Big Beautiful Bill Act squeak through the House 215 to 214; then on July 3 came his yes on the finished law, under which New Jersey forfeits $28.71 billion in federal Medicaid dollars over a decade, according to KFF.
That is 18 cents of every federal Medicaid dollar New Jersey was projected to receive. KFF expects 300,000 additional uninsured New Jersey residents by 2034 from the law alone, and inside Van Drew's own seat, New Jersey's 2nd District, one resident in five, 162,900 people, was on Medicaid in 2025.
Jeff Van Drew's Votes for the Medicaid Cuts, From Budget Plan to Final Law
- Van Drew Voted for the Final Law That Takes $28.71 Billion From New Jersey Medicaid, in July 2025. Jeff Van Drew's May 22, 2025 yes was the whole margin: H.R. 1 got 215 votes, opponents 214, and one member answered present. He was a yes again on July 3, 2025, six weeks on, when the Senate-rewritten version carried 218 to 214. Nationally, the Congressional Budget Office's math has federal Medicaid outlays shrinking $911 billion across ten years and 10 million more Americans uninsured by 2034. KFF's state breakdown hands New Jersey $28.71 billion of that reduction, inside a band running from $21.53 billion up to $35.89 billion.
- Van Drew Tipped Both 2025 Budget Votes That Set an $880 Billion Target for Medicaid's Committee. Two budget-resolution tallies hinged on Van Drew. H.Con.Res. 14 drew 217 votes to 215 on February 25, 2025; the Senate's rewrite drew 216 to 214 on April 10, 2025. Flip his vote on either and the count ties, which sinks a resolution. Its order to Energy and Commerce, home of Medicaid law, was to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000". He went on to vote for the May rule setting up debate on H.R. 1. Provider taxes, a funding stream states tap for their Medicaid share, get squeezed under the final law, which had Van Drew's vote on July 3, 2025, and the Congressional Budget Office pegs that one change at $191 billion in federal money over a decade. The same law reins in the bonus payments states route to hospitals, and with those caps, KFF concluded, "payment rates for hospital services will decrease in at least 37 states".
What Jeff Van Drew's Medicaid Votes Cost New Jersey's 2nd District and the State
- 162,900 people in Van Drew's district rely on the Medicaid program his votes cut. Medicaid's 2025 rolls in New Jersey's 2nd District held 162,900 people, a fifth of the district, KFF's district map shows: 54,600 children, 56,100 expansion adults, 16,900 residents with disabilities and 14,000 seniors among them. Their pediatric visits, prescriptions and hospital admissions run partly on the federal money the law pulls back from New Jersey.
- 300,000 more New Jersey residents will go without insurance in 2034. KFF projects that by 2034 the law by itself leaves 300,000 more New Jersey residents uninsured, give or take, within a 230,000-to-380,000 range, lifting the uninsured rate 3 points. Each of them faces a checkup, an insulin refill or an emergency visit as a bill paid in cash or skipped.
- New Jersey hospitals stand to lose $2.23 billion a year in federal payments above the law's new limits. Roughly $2.23 billion a year of federal money for New Jersey hospital care lands above the law's ceiling on state-directed payments, by KFF's count, and the state's provider taxes on hospitals and managed-care plans are on KFF's list of taxes expected to shrink. Hospitals short that money have less to keep emergency rooms, maternity units and clinics staffed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jeff Van Drew on Health Care
What is Jeff Van Drew's record on health care under Trump?
Jeff Van Drew voted for the February and April 2025 budget resolutions and for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at its 215-to-214 House passage in May and again at final passage, and the two budget votes and the House passage turned on his votes. The final law he voted for on July 3, 2025 cuts federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion nationally, and KFF puts New Jersey's share at $28.71 billion over ten years. KFF also projects 300,000 more uninsured New Jersey residents in 2034.
When do New Jersey Medicaid enrollees first face the work rule Jeff Van Drew voted for?
Jeff Van Drew's July 2025 vote set a deadline New Jersey has to meet: the work rule must be running "no later than January 1, 2027," and expansion enrollees face eligibility checks twice a year beginning with renewals dated December 31, 2026 or later. Adults covered must log 80 hours a month of a job, volunteering or job training, or attend school half-time. In New Jersey's 2nd District the expansion group counted 56,100 people in 2025, and the Congressional Budget Office ties 5.3 million more uninsured Americans in 2034 to this requirement alone.
Will New Jersey Medicaid patients pay more because of how Jeff Van Drew voted?
Some will, on a fixed calendar set by the law Jeff Van Drew voted for. Starting January 1, 2027, Medicaid reaches back only one month before an expansion adult's application to pay old medical bills. Starting October 1, 2028, expansion adults earning 100% to 138% of the poverty line can be charged as much as $35 a service.
When will New Jersey hospitals feel the payment limits in the law Jeff Van Drew voted for?
In two stages, under the law Jeff Van Drew voted for on July 3, 2025: on October 1, 2027, the provider-tax ceiling for expansion states like New Jersey begins dropping by half a percentage point yearly toward 3.5%, and on January 1, 2028, state-directed hospital payments over the new caps begin to be cut, KFF reports.
Last updated: 2026-10-27