Amo Tours East Bay Community Action Program Dental Center, Highlights Impact of Harmful Republican Cuts to Medicaid

Visits Newport facility run by EBCAP serving Medicaid recipients from East Providence to Aquidneck Island

NEWPORT, RI – Today, Congressman Gabe Amo (RI-01) visited East Bay Dental Center, a community health center administered by East Bay Community Action Program (EBCAP), that delivers services to Rhode Islanders on Aquidneck Island. During the visit and tour, he spoke with staff about the downstream impacts of Medicaid cuts and how they would affect the services that East Bay Community Action Program provides for children, adults, and seniors in Rhode Island. In their budget proposal passed last week, Republicans opened the door to $880 billion in Medicaid funding cuts nationwide.

“East Bay Community Action Program was forced to navigate the chaos and confusion caused by Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze. Now, Republicans in Congress are adding insult to injury — threatening to end Medicaid as we know it by slashing Medicaid’s budget,” said Congressman Gabe Amo, member of the House Committee on Budget. “Today, I visited East Bay Dental Center today stand in solidarity with the health care providers like East Bay Community Action Program and their patients who rely on Medicaid to stay healthy. They are always top of mind as I work to protect and support the key service providers who deliver services for vulnerable populations in our community.

“Medicaid funding is paramount to the success of the individuals we serve and the resiliency of our communities,” said Jesse Shipley, Chief Operating Officer at East Bay Community Action Program. “People come first at EBCAP, where we strive to help all people to achieve their fullest potential. Reductions in Medicaid funding not only jeopardize the well-being of each of the individual lives we serve but harms the broader community and threatens the economic impact made from the services delivered by organizations like ours. Cuts in Medicaid mean cuts in clinic hours, cuts in staffing, and cuts in our ability to strengthen our communities and reduce broader healthcare utilization throughout the system. Quality healthcare lives at the heart of what we do, and those we do it for. Reductions in this programming puts this mission and our communities squarely at risk.”

BACKGROUND

On February 13, 2025, Congressman Amo participated in a House Committee on Budget markup where he called out Republican attempts to gut Medicaid while attempting to provide a tax giveaway to the richest one percent of Americans.

In 2023, Rhode Island received $2.17 billion in Medicaid funding — accounting for 41% of all federal funding delivered to the Ocean State. This funding provided health care coverage for more than 237,000 residents, or 22.6% of all Rhode Islanders. Rhode Island hospitals received $344 million in Medicaid payments in 2023, including $205 million in Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) and other supplemental payments that help to offset uncompensated care for Medicaid patients and the uninsured. Republican cuts to Medicaid funding would close health care providers doors and reduce the quality of services, including home- and community-based services, dental and optometry services, and other critical programs.

Approximately 20% of all adults in Rhode Island ages 19 to 64 rely on Medicaid for health coverage. In addition, Medicaid delivers health care for:

• 36.9% of all children in Rhode Island,
• 43% of all moms in Rhode Island giving birth and their newborns,
• 50.7% of working age adults in Rhode Island with disabilities,
• 64% of nursing home residents in Rhode Island,
• and 20% of Medicare beneficiaries in Rhode Island.