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How New Health Care Cuts and Policies Impact You
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With gratitude, this program is presented in partnership with the National Rural Health Association and The Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families.
This webinar features presenters discussing health care provisions in H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), recently signed into law. Along with CMA Litigation Director, Ali Bers, guest presenters discuss the impacts of the law on health care. Edwin Park, Research Professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families, discusses Medicaid and ACA provisions, Carrie Cochran-McClain, Chief Policy Officer at the National Rural Health Association, discusses the impact of the law on rural providers and hospitals, CMA’s Ali Bers outlines the Medicare provisions in the law.
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Rural populations often encounter barriers that limit their ability to obtain the care they need, many of which will be exacerbated by cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in July 2025. Recent years have devastated the financial viability of rural practices, disrupted rural economies, and eroded availability of care. Medical deserts are appearing across rural America leaving many without timely access to care. Addressing rural health gaps and stabilizing the rural health infrastructure are a top priority for NRHA. As such, we have number of advocacy resources for residents, providers, and rural advocates to utilize.
- Advocacy campaigns that will help direct a streamlined message to Members of Congress in your state and districts
- OBBBA talking points as well as a rural health transformation fund program summary to learn more about the OBBBA impacts on rural providers and patients
- Rural health appropriations toolkit and in district appropriations toolkit in our appropriations hub to guide and best direct advocates to fight for continued funding of rural programs in FY26
- Leave behind materials and factsheets to help enhance any advocacy within a variety of rural health topics in our advocacy priority areas
For more information about rural health and advocacy opportunities, please visit https://www.ruralhealth.us/advocacy.
Additional Resources
Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Children and Families Resources
- Website Home Page
- Medicaid, CHIP, and Affordable Care Act Marketplace Cuts and Other Health Provisions in the Budget Reconciliation Law, Explained
Center for Medicare Advocacy Resources
- A Cut to Medicaid is a Cut to Medicare
- A Cut to Medicaid is a Cut to Medicare 2
- H.R. 1 “Big Bill” Even Worse Than Expected
- Immigration Policies Threaten Critical Nursing Home Workforce
- Impact of the “Big Bill” on Medicare
Other Organizations
- Medicaid, Medicare, ACA provisions in H.R. 1
- What’s in the Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025 and What Does it Mean for Low-Income Older Adults’ Access to Health and Long-Term Care?
- Provisions on Immigrants’ Access to Public Benefits in the Final Reconciliation Package
- Prepare. Enforce. Protect. (equipping advocates/communities to enforce Medicaid rights & protect access to quality health care for those most at risk)
Presenter Bios
Ali Bers, Litigation Director at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, represents older adults and people with disabilities in federal litigation aimed at making systemic improvements to Medicare. She litigates class and individual actions challenging policies that improperly deny Medicare coverage or that violate beneficiaries’ appeal rights in the Medicare program. Her work includes leading a nationwide class action that established appeal rights for beneficiaries who were denied coverage of nursing home stays due to their placement on “observation status” at hospitals. Other representative work includes winning Medicare coverage of critically-needed medications. Ali also speaks and writes on Medicare topics as part of the Center’s educational activities. Before joining CMA, Ali was an elder law attorney in private practice and a staff attorney at Western Massachusetts Legal Services (now Community Legal Aid). At Legal Services, she assisted low-income clients with public benefits. She was a law clerk for the Honorable Robert N. Chatigny of the U.S. District Court in Connecticut. Ali is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and served for 14 years on the Board of Directors of Square One, a non-profit provider of early education and child care in Springfield, Massachusetts. Ali received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Columbia University and her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. She is admitted to the state bars of Connecticut and Massachusetts, several federal district and appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dr. Carrie Cochran-McClain serves as the Chief Policy Officer at the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). Carrie joined NRHA staff in 2020 where she is the head lobbyist for the association and is responsible driving the policy agenda for rural health for the 21,000 member organization. She has more than 20 years of experience working in federal health policy development, including serving in the Senior Executive Service at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Deputy Director at the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, and as a Principle at Health Management Associates. Carrie earned a BA in sociology from Willamette University and an MPA with a concentration in health policy and management from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She completed a doctor of public health at the UNC Gillings School with a focus on access to obstetrical care in rural areas.
Kata Kertesz, Managing Policy Attorney, joined the Center for Medicare Advocacy in 2014. Her legal work focuses on the rights of those dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, the Medicare Savings Programs, and other matters regarding access to health care for lower-income people. Prior to joining the Center, Kata worked on Medicare issues at the National Council on Aging (NCOA), a non-profit agency that focuses on health care and consumer protection issues for older adults. While at NCOA, Kata engaged in administrative and legislative advocacy through coalitions of consumer protection groups. Kata earned her B.A. degree from Georgetown University and her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She was executive editor of the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, and a student editor for the ABA’s Entertainment and Sports Lawyer. Also while in law school, Kata worked on consumer protection issues for the federal government, including as an honors law clerk at the Environmental Protection Agency, as a legal intern at the Department of Homeland Security, and as a law clerk for Commissioner Robert M. McDowell at the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to attending law school, Kata was a journalist at the Associated Press in Washington, DC. Kata is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Edwin Park is a Research Professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families. His work primarily focuses on Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Affordable Care Act and he is considered one of the nation’s leading health policy experts on issues related to Medicaid and CHIP financing and the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions, among others. He also analyzes tax policies related to health care and policies related to drug pricing and private insurance markets. Edwin worked for 17 years at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan, non-profit research and policy organization that focuses on fiscal policy and policies affecting low- and moderate-income individuals and families, most recently as Vice President for Health Policy. He also served as the health policy advisor for the National Economic Council at the White House during the Clinton Administration and as a Medicaid professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, as part of the staff of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and recently served on the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Edwin is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and has a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also has an A.B. in Public and International Affairs, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University.