By PAUL FUHS
I am seeing a barrage of ads on TV addressing our US Sen. Dan Sullivan over the issue of Medicaid. While Medicaid is an important issue, the ads are curious in their content and focus. Just a couple of weeks ago we saw similar ads aimed at Sen. Murkowski. Why the switch?
Are these ads really about Medicaid? Or are they just political ads since Sen. Sullivan will be running for reelection in 2026?
There are a couple of clues that can tell us. First, the claims made about the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on Medicaid are patently false. They claim that one-third of Alaskans and 50% of our children will lose coverage.
Read the bill. All children under the age of 19 will continue to have coverage, as will pregnant women, families with children under the age of 13, and people with disabilities. That is almost everyone currently being covered.
As for the able-bodied people who will have to show they will work, the political opponents of Sen. Sullivan claim that “most people who are on Medicaid are already working.” Well, OK then, they won’t lose coverage either. Do Alaskans, who have a strong work ethic, really think it is unreasonable to require able bodied people to work for benefits? Everyone else does.
And thanks to the efforts of Senators Murkowski and Sullivan, there are other carve outs for rural areas and areas with high unemployment. For everywhere else, you see business after business posting to hire people for work. Ask any company, and they will tell you that is a very real economic issue.
There are already several groups who help people with Medicaid paperwork, and I am sure they will be very active in supporting eligible people to qualify for and keep their coverage.
The other clue for the meaning of these ads is to look up who is behind the ads: Majority Forward. Look them up at Influence Watch and you will see their report. It will give you some perspective. Turns out they are completely political, with no connection to health policy, and the darkest of the ‘dark money’ groups.
I am sure there will be other Alaskans who will run for election, and will provide an alternative to Sen. Sullivan, and that is welcome in our democracy. But hopefully they will not base their campaigns on the patently false claims about medicaid.
As I said, Medicaid is a legitimate issue, but what else is in the bill that caused our senators and congressman to vote for it?
On balance, this is the most important bill for the future of Alaska that we have seen in the past several decades. Alaska is a resource based economy, and the bill contains many important and enforceable requirements for leasing in NPRA, ANWR and Cook Inlet. It also contains conditions on lawsuits aimed at stopping development, timelines for completion of environmental impact statements, recision of the Roadless Rule in Southeast, loan guarantees for the Alaska gasline project, etc. And these are statutory provisions than can’t be overturned by executive order of a subsequent Presidential administration.
It also gives Alaska 70% of the revenues from oil and gas development on federal lands. We have all recently witnessed the difficult decisions our legislature has had to make due to lack of funding for basic services.
There are more Alaska specific benefits in this bill than for any other state, and I have to give credit to our Congressman Nick Begich for getting these included in the House version of the bill. An amazing feat for a freshman representative.
When combined with President Trump’s executive order on Alaska resource development, and the recent Supreme Court cases of Chevron and the 7 Counties Infrastructure Coalition, we are now positioned for a very strong improvement in Alaska’s economy through the next decade and beyond.
These measures aren’t meant to keep legitimate issues from being raised regarding resource development projects. They are meant to address the constant onslaught of lawsuits and delaying administrative actions intended to block any development in Alaska. For instance, the Center for Biological Diversity has already filed 266 lawsuits against the Trump administration. This doesn’t count suits by Earth Justice, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Trustees, Natural Resources Defense Council, etc, etc.
What does this have to do with Medicaid?
First, with the jobs that will be available from these developments, Alaskans, if they are willing to take the training, should be able to earn a lot more than would qualify them for medicaid. For instance, the average annual wage for a miner in Alaska is $112,000 per year. For a directional oil driller on the North Slope, it is $149,000 per year. It could lift them and their children out of poverty. To keep the money in Alaska, let’s stop the flow of outside workers by training our own people.
The other connection with medicaid is the state matching requirement for the program, which has been escalating almost every year. That matching money comes from money earned by the state in oil taxes and the oil based permanent fund. You might wonder what that amount is. It wass $455 million last year. Without resource development, we wouldn’t be able to afford the match.
So, let’s take a larger overview look at the Big Beautiful Bill and what is does for Alaska. I am sure we will have a very lively election in 2026 over many issues, but let’s hope it is honest and based on a realistic view of what the Big Beautiful Bill did or didn’t do.
Paul Fuhs is former Mayor of Unalaska, Former Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development, and Chairman of the board of AIDEA, the Alaska Energy Authority and the State Bond Bank.
Paul strikes me as a rather naive individual, the kind that says we don’t have a speeding problem because we have speed limits.
Congress’ own agencies have documented the complex impacts of the legislation that Trump cultists have pushed through, and Congressman who voted for it immediately attempted to void it or sought exemptions from it.
To argue simplistically about almost 1000 pages of wrecking-ball is to plunge your head in the sand.
The GOP, under Trump “leadership”, has sunk to lows that Roosevelt and Eisenhower would find so cynical and inhumane as to be revolting.
“Patently false” smells a good deal like “Mission Accomplished”; hollow and mean-spirited PR fodder for low-information voters.
The naive, low information voters are the ones who believe the ridiculous commercials.
Great article! As always, propaganda relies on ignorance. Here’s hoping our voters can ‘see’ through this smokescreen!
The CBO disagrees with you. They state that 11 million people will lose their health insurance by 2034. It also substantially cuts Medicaid funding which is what many low income people rely on for coverage. It also makes it more difficult to enroll in the ACA and increases medical costs for those that keep their coverage.
It’s telling that many of the most onerous provisions of this bill don’t take effect until after Trump is out of office.
C’mon cman. Cleaning up the fraud in Medicaid will more than account for the cuts therein.
‘https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/07/medicaid-fraud-worse-than-you-can-imagine.php
Also, changing the cost sharing calculation will place this burden back where it belongs: with each state that embraces the expansion of these rolls, rather than the expansion of their state domestic product. They should fix economic conditions with opportunity rather than transfer payments.
Most of the fraud and waste was with the illegals, once they left/leave that will leave more for the needed help for Americans that use Medicaid.
The flood of concocted, pretending to be concerned for the needs of common people by the loss of Medicaid benefits are annoying.
No special interest advocacy group ever wastes their financial resources out of an actual concern for the public, rather they all use their resources to achieve objectives for a better placement at the troughs of federal and state public funding for the interests they are paid to represent.
Sullivan, or for that matter any of our federal and state representatives for Alaska are any different, some are just more corrupt or spineless when compared to others.
The relaxation of some administrative rules perpetually denying the people of Alaska the opportunity to develop necessary productive economic activity is certainly welcome, credit due to Sullivan in this case.
The problem concerning finding local hire for high paying employment for new and/or expanded projects remains the same. At the state level Alaska has consistently failed to create and manage a functional education system for our youth. This despite pouring money into the spending category labeled “education”. Simply a slush fund for illiterate teachers, exploited by overstaffed incompetent administrators, union hacks and campaign donation accounts for the politicians who perpetuate the dysfunctional system. A system which in any case lacks an actual viable educational blueprint standard for administrative guidance.
Specific highly skilled job training for tasks that pay well require candidates who were sufficiently educated to be amenable to be viable. Candidates must also have an ingrained work ethic which is generally sadly lacking in our state. Ask any employer how daunting the process is to identify viable candidates who are a net asset to a business.
We, as an Alaskan society, are several generations deep producing a high percentage of youth that are devoid of a basic work ethic or sense of responsibility for themselves, to their children or elders. Accentuated by high levels of substance addiction incapacating many individuals from gainful employment.
Brian, you are correct about the school system. And BTW, I misstated how much the state has to provide to match federal medicaid funds. The actual figure was $730 million not $455.
While I agree with most everything Fuhs states; I wouldn’t go about crowing as being a former Chairman of AIDEA. That money funneler has lost Alaskans hundreds of millions and has been an albatross since its inception.
The ads claim that the cuts to Medicaid to healthy able-bodied Alaskans who refuse to work, will destroy the way of life in Alaska.
Ummmm, speak for yourself. Welfare is not MY way of life.
I’m tired of welfare leaches, my grandfather came to America for work and my immediate family moved multiple times for jobs, if you live in a high unemployment area you need to move no more excuses. There is NO free lunch someone is working their asses off somewhere to feed you if you are on assistance. If your on assistance and you are able to work shame on you.
Great article. 👍 Thank you for doing a little research and making this contribution. I also followed the link to Majority Forward. That’s quite telling about how the 501(c)4 cabal acts; esp. that left-leaning orgs take issue with this bunch.
Well said Paul
Attacks on Sullivan are about outside leftist woke globalists that MAGA ousted, who are trying to divide the state of Alaska. Period. Don’t fall for any of their BS.
Let’s not forget that Ukraine Dan was all in on more, more, more for the Ukraine escalation all the way along. We aren’t hearing much about that these days. Globalist maybe?
In the meantime, I’m all for a smaller PFD.
Yeah, I’m all for a smaller PFD. Hopefully the rest of you guys are as well.