Late Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a budget resolution. The move could be a step towards major cuts to the Medicaid program, which has raised concerns across the at-home care sector.

The result was 217-215, with every Democrat and one Republican – Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) – voting against the measure.

While the budget calls for $2 trillion in spending cuts, it doesn’t specifically name Medicaid.

Plus, Republican leaders have downplayed the impact on Medicaid.

“Look, Medicaid has never been on the chopping block,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said earlier this month at a press conference. “What we’re talking about is non-benefit-related reforms to the program. Medicaid is infamous for fraud, waste, and abuse. By some estimates, large percentages of the dollars that are allocated there are wasted and stolen, and so we do right to go into those programs, and find that, and show the people what’s happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. If you eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid, you’ve got a huge amount of money that you can spend on real priorities for the country.”

However, the budget instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, to cut $880 billion in spending over the next 10 years.

In other words, the House Energy and Commerce Committee could make these cuts from other areas that fall under its jurisdiction, but it’s unlikely that they’d reach $880 billion without making cuts to the Medicaid program.

Overall, cuts potentially mean fewer waiver services, which includes home-based care. It could also mean an increase in the waiting lists for those programs.

Last year, KFF found that there have been roughly 700,000 people on waiting lists in most years since 2016. Plus, total enrollment in waiting lists increased by 2.6% between 2023 and 2024.

During the company’s fourth quarter earnings call yesterday, Addus HomeCare Corporation (Nasdaq: ADUS) leaders addressed potential changes to the Medicaid program head-on.

Broadly, CEO Dirk Allison believes that the company will be insulated from most of the major impacts. Still, he stressed the value of Medicaid.

“Medicaid is a valuable state and federal lifeline to the extremely at-risk population that we serve, which, if cut, could lead to much higher total cost of care for both states and the federal government,” Allison said. “At Addus, we are focused on our strategy of expanding our services to this population as it relates to home care, which we believe remains valuable to both our states as well as Congress and this administration. We are encouraged by the bipartisan congressional comments opposing cuts to the Medicaid program.”

The budget resolution still needs to pass the Senate to move forward.

“Yesterday’s vote definitely raises the concern level regarding potential cuts to Medicaid; however, it is important to remember where we are in the process,” Damon Terzaghi, senior director of medicaid and home community-based services at the National Alliance for Care at Home, told Home Health Care News in an email. “The Senate passed a very different resolution framework that must be reconciled with the House. Further, we have seen firsthand how hesitant many individuals across the political spectrum are regarding the magnitude of reductions considered within the House resolution, which gives us hope that a more moderate approach will be considered.”