Comes as more than 700,000 Michiganders are set to lose their health care

LANSING — New reporting today from the Detroit Metro Times revealed that Mike Duggan said behind closed doors last week that Donald Trump’s Medicaid cuts “are not as bad as they look” — which came in response to a question from a local hospital leader who raised the alarm about the impacts that Trump’s disastrous tax law will have on Michigan patients. 

The out of touch comments, made at an event in Royal Oak, are the first time Duggan has spoken on Trump’s cuts to Medicaid after his campaign previously deflected questions. 

More than 700,000 people across the state are set to lose their health care coverage and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association has said that the Medicaid cuts are “disastrous” for Michigan healthcare. Rural hospitals are already facing strained budgets and have closed or scaled back services and the vast majority of Michiganders oppose cuts to Medicaid. 

Despite what Mike Duggan’s campaign may claim, the Metro Times “couldn’t find an instance in which Duggan spoke out against the Medicaid cuts.”

As he defends Trump’s Medicaid cuts, Duggan’s campaign has drawn “big money from Trump supporters and wealthy GOP donors” that has raised “big questions about his political realignment.”

In response to Duggan, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel released the following statement:

“Mike Duggan’s campaign is being bankrolled by MAGA donors and loyalists to Donald Trump, and now he’s dismissing concerns of Michiganders who are going to lose their care because of the GOP’s devastating health care cuts. More than 700,000 people across the state are set to lose their coverage, health care costs are going up and hospitals are struggling to stay afloat, but for Duggan, these cuts ‘are not as bad as they look.’ It’s clear that MAGA-backed Mike Duggan can’t be trusted to stand up for our health care.”

Read more below:

Detroit Metro Times: Duggan defends Trump’s Medicaid work rules as critics warn cuts will strip coverage from hundreds of thousands

• Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running for Michigan governor as an independent after decades as a self-proclaimed Democrat, downplayed the impact of sweeping Medicaid cuts under former President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

• Speaking to business leaders at a Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce event last week, Duggan said the reductions “aren’t as bad as they look” and defended the law’s controversial work requirement for Medicaid recipients.

• Duggan went on to argue that the key is implementation. 

• “These Medicaid cuts are not as bad as they look, if state government knows what it’s doing,” he said. 

• If elected governor, Duggan said he would build a computer system to help residents log their work, education, or volunteer hours to remain eligible.

• But health care leaders and Democrats say Duggan is ignoring the reality of Trump’s legislation, which slashes $840 billion from Medicaid over the next decade and adds new administrative barriers that experts say will cause millions of low-income Americans to lose coverage.

• Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, warned the cuts “will be disastrous for Michigan health care,” saying hospitals “will be faced with difficult choices that will include eliminating service lines or even entire facilities.” Peters said the bill will cost Michigan hospitals more than $6 billion in Medicaid funding over ten years.

• Campaign spokesperson Andrea Bitley said that Duggan was “strongly opposed to the cuts this year.” But when asked to point to Duggan’s public opposition to the GOP cuts, Bitley simply responded, “He’s addressed it multiple times.” 

• Metro Times couldn’t find an instance in which Duggan spoke out against the Medicaid cuts. 

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