Cites challenges at meeting with Columbia-Savin Hill constituents
By Gage Vieno, Special to the Reporter
JUNE 2, 2026
Congressman Steve Lynch told members of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association on Monday this week that proposed federal Medicaid cuts and the growing pressure on local hospitals represent the most significant challenges facing his district. He also used the occasion to outline ongoing legal battles between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration.
Lynch, who has held his seat in the US House since 2001, is facing a primary challenge this year from Patrick Roath, a first-time candidate who recently opened a storefront office on Savin Hill Avenue. However, the campaign never came up during his 25-minute presentation in front of about 50 people gathered inside the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester’s McLaughlin Teen Center on Dorchester Avenue.
Lynch explained that he is particularly concerned about the impact of reductions to Medicaid funding included in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” noting that “the biggest challenge we have right now, the one I worry about most, is actually Medicaid.
“It cuts $100 billion a year from Medicaid for 10 years, total of a trillion,” he said. He added that hospitals throughout the Eighth Congressional District depend on Medicaid for roughly one-third of their funding and warned that further reductions could threaten already struggling healthcare facilities.
“Every single hospital in our district right now relies for about 30 to 35 percent of their funding on Medicaid,” Lynch said. “We’ve got a bunch of wobbly hospitals right now.”
He pointed to the closure of Carney Hospital in Dorchester in August 2024 and other former Steward Health Care facilities as evidence of the region’s fragile healthcare system and warned that hospitals are already operating at capacity, forcing some patients to wait in emergency departments for extended periods before inpatient beds become available.
“What they’re doing now is called ‘boarding,’” Lynch said. “They put you on a cot outside the emergency room.”
The congressman said he fears the consequences if another public health emergency were to occur, noting, “There’s no beds available, so we would have a disaster on our hands.”
Much of Lynch’s presentation focused on national politics and what he described as efforts by congressional Democrats to challenge actions taken by the Trump administration through the courts. He said he serves on a Democratic litigation task force that has filed more than 600 lawsuits since January 2025.
“Right now, in Congress, obviously with this president, we’re spending a lot of our time in court, ironically,” he said, citing legal challenges involving staffing cuts at Veterans Affairs facilities and the elimination of federal research funding, where victories in court have restored some funding but not before causing significant disruption.
The South Boston Democrat also discussed ongoing congressional investigations involving Trump and explained why Democrats have not pursued impeachment proceedings while Republicans control the House.
“The fact of the matter is, if we drew up articles of impeachment right now…we would have to hand those documents to the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson,” Lynch said, arguing that Johnson and his Republican colleagues would control the process and ultimately reject the effort.
He also highlighted several local projects that have received federal support, pointing in particular to progress on the Fieldhouse in Dorchester, which received federal earmark funding that he helped to secure.
“We just did the topping off at the Martin Richard Fieldhouse,” Lynch said. “It’s gonna be spectacular.”
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