Kavita Patel MD
@drkavitapatel.bsky.social
10K followers 36 following 110 posts
Stanford University Faculty, Venture Partner New Enterprise Associates NBC Medical Contributor and Obama Policy Alum
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drkavitapatel.bsky.social
Many have written about the House Bill that just passed, but so many outside the beltway are not aware

🧵 What’s "Budget Reconciliation"?
It’s Congress’s turbo button for passing $$$ bills with just 51 Senate votes (no 60 needed!) Used for tax cuts, healthcare, climate ⚡ #BudgetReconciliation
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
Anything we can do together is a great day and having @murray.senate.gov makes it even better - we are still left with a shutdown and a worse outlook for potentially millions who need health care that is dignified - Americans deserve that much
vinguptamd.bsky.social
Big thank you to the great @murray.senate.gov for joining Meidas Health today with my great friend and physician leader @drkavitapatel.bsky.social to break down the terrible impacts of rhe government shutdown on our nations health.
acyn.bsky.social
Murray: I talked to a family that’s paying about $300 a month for their health insurance. It’s going to jump to over $1,800 per month.

Many people will turn away and not pay for it—obviously, they’ll lose their health insurance. The fewer people who have insurance, the more everybody pays.
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
I agree- I said that - we would all love to have these results

But it’s hard to believe these results match this individual- at a minimum I do believe he has benefited from modern science given his medication regimen which is pretty aggressive for cholesterol
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
he is on 2 agents for his cholesterol including a statin and a newer class of drugs some of which was developed with nih dollars

so he is indeed a product of modern research/ science - how long that will last in the us - who knows?
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
first measles patient - unvaccinated child - dies - sadly won’t be the last in this recent outbreak- expect cases to increase to the mid to high 100s if not higher depending on when we hit a community wall of immunity (generally when we have 95% vax rate in an area)

it’s never to late to vaccinate
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
10/ Let your Elected officials know that this is not the country you care about, the country you want to make sure is still standing for future generations. Let them hear you LOUD and OFTEN.
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
9/ The Trade-Offs 🔄
Cuts fund $4.5T tax breaks (corporate rate drops 21%→15%)

Debt ceiling raised by $4T

But GOP Reps in CA/TX/PA districts warn: 30% of Medicaid recipients are Hispanic → rural clinics close
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
8/ Federal Workers & Students 📉
$500B cut to federal pensions → Retirees lose $300+/month

Student loan forgiveness at risk:
→ 500k+ borrowers could see relief reversed1
→ Pell Grants slashed (cuts to Education Committee)
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
7/SNAP: Basic Food to avert Hunger

$230B cut to Agriculture Committee (runs SNAP)

Impact: 42M+ Americans face:
→ Stricter income caps (e.g., family of 4 earning >$40k loses benefits)
→ Reduced monthly benefits (avg. $6/day/person → $4.75)
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
6/House GOP’s proposed $2T cuts target mandatory spending — programs MILLIONS rely on

Real world examples 🔍 #BudgetCuts

$2.3T reduction over 10 years could force states to:
→ Drop dental/vision coverage 💊
→ Close rural hospitals (200+ at risk)
→ Kick 15M+ off rolls via work requirements
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
5/Both chambers will have to come together through a committee that includes R and D to agree on a final resolution that will have to pass both H before end of March.
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
4/ Senate already passed their version Friday morning (out of frustration from delays in the House)-a $340 billion budget blueprint designed to boost funding for President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts, energy production and the military- very different than House package
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
3/Today: $2 trillion in spending cuts that could potentially impact Medicaid and other key health care programs. The proposal also allows for up to $4.5 trillion in spending for tax cuts and would raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
details here: docs.house.gov/meetings/BU/...
docs.house.gov
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
2/ Congress agrees on a budget resolution with “reconciliation instructions” – like telling committees:
“Cut $X from healthcare” or “Raise $Y via taxes.”
But not HOW to do it. Today this is what passed the House:
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
Many have written about the House Bill that just passed, but so many outside the beltway are not aware

🧵 What’s "Budget Reconciliation"?
It’s Congress’s turbo button for passing $$$ bills with just 51 Senate votes (no 60 needed!) Used for tax cuts, healthcare, climate ⚡ #BudgetReconciliation
Reposted by Kavita Patel MD
bbkogan.bsky.social
House Rs just passed the budget resolution, the first step in their process to enact a bill that'd kick millions off Medicaid & cut SNAP down to just $1.60 per person per meal on avg while cutting taxes for the top 0.1% by $278k - all while increasing the debt

🧵on what's to come and WHERE TO FIGHT
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
100000 %- I hope they are listening.
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
you are right
i haven’t felt this level of pain and stress for our country in a long time - i will make sure to step up and do more frequent posts and will talk to @vinguptamd.bsky.social about something more organized

bottom line- we got you
drkavitapatel.bsky.social
some noteworthy areas/ section 5(iii) taking a stab at ssri / glp-1 and a number of other drugs

note the theme of working for affordable+better healthcare - all great ideas but just one problem/ you need people in agencies who have faith in leaders and real leaders. not sure we have any of those
problem.you