Mike Lawler, who represents New York's 17th District in the House, supplied one of the 215 votes that beat 214 on May 22, 2025 to send the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the Senate, and then voted for the final law, which KFF calculates will take $102.2 billion in federal Medicaid money from New York over ten years.
Earlier in 2025, Lawler cast deciding votes in February and April for the budget resolution that told the committee in charge of Medicaid to find at least $880 billion in savings; the final law, which he voted for on July 3, squeezes the extra payments states route to hospitals beginning in 2028. In his district, 222,200 people, 28% of residents, were enrolled in Medicaid in 2025.
Mike Lawler's Votes on Medicaid and Health Coverage
- New York Stands to Lose $102.2 Billion in Medicaid Money Under the Law Lawler Voted For in July 2025. Mike Lawler was a yes on May 22, 2025, when H.R. 1 first cleared the House by 215 to 214 with one member answering present; without him it would have failed. He was a yes again on July 3, 2025, when the final law won 218 to 214. The Congressional Budget Office projects the law will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion over a decade and push the number of uninsured Americans up by 10 million in 2034. KFF's state-by-state split of that cut assigns New York $102.2 billion, or 16% of the federal Medicaid funding the state would otherwise have received.
- Lawler Supplied Deciding Votes for a Budget Plan That Ordered $880 Billion in Savings From the Committee Over Medicaid, in 2025. Lawler voted for H.Con.Res. 14 on February 25, 2025, when it was adopted 217 to 215, and for its final version on April 10, 2025, adopted 216 to 214; had he alone switched, either vote would have ended in a tie, and a tied resolution fails in the House. The plan directed the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000". Lawler was also a yes on the May 2025 rule that set the terms for debating H.R. 1. Lawler's July 3, 2025 vote then went to a final law that caps the provider taxes states use to raise their share of the program, a change the Congressional Budget Office scores at $191 billion in lost federal Medicaid funding over ten years, and tightens limits on state-directed hospital payments. Under those limits, KFF found, "payment rates for hospital services will decrease in at least 37 states" from January 1, 2028.
What the Medicaid Cuts Mike Lawler Voted For Mean for New York's 17th District and the State
- 222,200 people in Lawler's district depend on the Medicaid program the law cuts. Medicaid covered 222,200 people in New York's 17th District in 2025, or 28% of the district, KFF data show: 80,500 children, 22,800 seniors, 12,200 people with disabilities and 49,900 adults covered through the Medicaid expansion, among others. Their checkups, prescriptions and hospital stays are paid for in part with the federal Medicaid dollars the law reduces.
- 860,000 more New Yorkers will be uninsured in 2034 because of the law. By KFF's projection, the law by itself adds 860,000 New Yorkers to the ranks of the uninsured in 2034, a 4-point jump in the state's uninsured rate; for those families a doctor's visit or a prescription becomes an out-of-pocket bill.
- Over a decade, rural New York's federal Medicaid dollars shrink by $5.67 billion. KFF puts the law's ten-year cut to federal Medicaid dollars in rural New York at $5.67 billion, leaving rural hospitals and clinics that lean on Medicaid patients with less to keep units staffed. Separately, New York was awarded $212 million, or $101 per rural resident, as its first-year share of the Rural Health Transformation fund the law set up.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mike Lawler on Health Care
What is Mike Lawler's record on health care under Trump?
In 2025 Mike Lawler cast a deciding vote for the House's first version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and a yes vote for the final law, which the Congressional Budget Office says takes $911 billion from federal Medicaid spending over ten years. KFF's allocation puts New York's share of that cut at $102.2 billion. Lawler also cast deciding votes for both versions of the budget resolution that told Energy and Commerce, the committee over Medicaid, to produce no less than $880 billion in deficit reduction.
Will Medicaid patients in the Hudson Valley have to meet work requirements because of Mike Lawler's vote?
Many will: Mike Lawler voted on July 3, 2025 for a requirement that adults covered through Medicaid's expansion, a New York choice, log 80 hours a month of work, community service or a work program, or half-time school, and states must start the rule "no later than January 1, 2027." In New York's 17th District, 49,900 people were enrolled through the expansion in 2025. The same law makes states recheck those adults' eligibility "once every 6 months."
Will New York hospitals lose money because of how Mike Lawler voted?
Yes, by KFF's estimates: Mike Lawler's July 3, 2025 yes went to a final law with new limits on state-directed payments, and KFF calculates that about $2.43 billion a year in federal spending on New York hospital services exceeds those limits. KFF also lists New York's hospital provider tax among the state taxes the law is expected to shrink, a second source of hospital money that gets smaller.
Last updated: 2026-10-27