Gov. Janet Mills used her weekly radio address to warn about the impacts a federal budget bill would have on Maine residents.

The legislation, which congressional Republicans call the “one big beautiful bill,” includes budget cuts to Medicaid that could result in thousands of Maine people losing access, according to Mills.

If passed, it would introduce sweeping changes to Medicaid infrastructure such as cutting federal funding and limiting the ability of undocumented immigrants and low income Americans to access health care coverage.

“Fewer people will have access to health insurance, and as a consequence, they may well put off going to the doctor until it’s too late,” Mills warned during the address. “Hospitals, nursing homes, health care providers, especially in the rural counties, could end up taking on the cost of caring for people who don’t have health insurance.”

The House of Representatives narrowly endorsed the bill, and President Donald Trump is urging senators to pass it, arguing that it will help slow increases in the federal deficit.

As the bill moves to the Senate this week, Mills used her address to call on Maine residents to push for its reconsideration. In a release Monday, Mills’ office said that over 392,000 Maine people get health insurance through Medicaid, known as MaineCare in this state, and this bill would result in an estimated 51,000 people losing coverage. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage to low-income individuals and families.

The bill faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where it needs nearly universal support from Republicans.

Maine’s only Republican member of Congress, Sen. Susan Collins, has also expressed concern about the bill and its Medicaid consequences. Collins and other Republican senators such as Jerry Moran of Kansas are worried about the potential impacts of increased copays, lack of funding to rural hospitals and to health care facilities.

Collins has opposed Medicaid cuts in the past and she and other Republicans have suggested that the bill is in need of revisions.

Maine politicians have been concerned for months about cuts to Medicaid. Last week, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, hosted a discussion in Portland about the legislation and its potential consequences. Pingree warned that the impact of cutting health care could cost the federal government more in the future.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” targets more than Medicaid. The bill also targets energy tax credits, debt limit, and artificial intelligence. The bill itself includes more than 1,000 pages of spending cuts and cost redirections.

Mills called Mainers to action. “If you receive health care through MaineCare or CoverME.gov, which is the Affordable Care Act, I encourage you to contact members of Congress to share with that coverage means to you. They need to hear your story,” she said.