{"id":7019,"date":"2025-04-03T04:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T04:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7019"},"modified":"2025-04-16T04:09:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:09:25","slug":"congress-considers-800-billion-medicaid-cut-putting-healthcare-in-jeopardy-for-millions-of-working-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7019","title":{"rendered":"Congress Considers $800 Billion Medicaid Cut, Putting Healthcare In Jeopardy for Millions of Working Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/p>\n

11 civil rights organizations March 13 jointly released a report on the impact of a proposed $800 billion cut to Medicaid, which would put at risk health care coverage for 70 million Americans.<\/p>\n

The House passed its\u00a0budget proposal<\/a>\u00a0Feb. 25, calling for an overall $2 trillion in spending cuts. The proposal also allows for $4.5 trillion in spending for tax cuts \u2014 which advocates say benefit only the very wealthy \u2014 and also raises the debt ceiling by $4.5 trillion. The Senate is expected to put through its proposal in April. After that, both the House and Senate will go through a budget reconciliation process to agree on proposed cuts and spending.<\/p>\n

The proposed cuts would disproportionately impact Latino and Black families, noted the report. More than 20 million Latinos, 13 million Black people, and 3.5 million Asian Americans rely on Medicaid. 31 million children are also covered by Medicaid, through the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program. More than half of Latino kids are covered by the program, and 60% of Black children are also enrolled. 60% of Native American children are enrolled in CHIP, and almost half of Native Hawaiian\/Pacific Islander children are also enrolled in the program.<\/p>\n

In California, Medicaid is known as MediCal, and covers all state residents, including undocumented people. Nationwide, 1 out of 5 people, and 1 out of every 3 children are covered by Medicaid. 62% of adults on Medicaid are working full or part-time jobs, according to\u00a0data<\/a>\u00a0from the California Health Care Foundation.<\/p>\n

On average, about\u00a068% of state spending<\/a>\u00a0on Medicaid comes from the federal government, reports KFF.<\/p>\n

Feed the Rich, Starve the Poor<\/h2>\n

\u201cThese are the worst cuts to Medicaid in the history of the program,\u201d said Stan Dorn, director of the Health Policy Project at UnidosUS. \u201cThese huge budget cuts pay for tax breaks that primarily benefit the wealthy. We\u2019re cutting health care services and food for working class people so that billionaires can buy more yachts and jewelry,\u201d he said in an interview with Ethnic Media Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that when you take health care away from children, the effects last a lifetime. Health problems are more likely in adulthood. People are less able to support themselves, more likely to need to turn to public assistance,\u201d said Dorn. \u201cResearchers tell us that every dollar invested in children\u2019s health results in a $4 savings to taxpayers down the line. So even if you care nothing about human beings and care only about gold dollars and cents, you don\u2019t want to make these cuts,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Dorn noted that $230 billion in cuts are also being proposed for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program \u2014 SNAP \u2014 reducing food benefits for almost 42 million people.<\/p>\n

\u2018Kicking Elderly Out of Nursing Homes\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cBudgets are a reflection of our values,\u201d said Rep. Grace Meng, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus \u2014 CAPAC \u2014 at a press conference March 13 morning. \u201cRepublicans have said with their budget proposal that they prioritize billionaires over the working class. It is beyond shameful,\u201d said the congresswoman from New York, noting that millions of people will lose healthcare coverage.<\/p>\n

Darren Soto, D-Florida and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, noted that millions of older adults will lose financial support to be able to live in nursing homes. Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, echoed Soto\u2019s remarks. \u201cOur vulnerable elderly people should not be kicked out of nursing homes so that billionaires get bigger tax breaks,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

People who lose their Medicaid coverage will not be able to easily transition to coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, noted Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA. ACA coverage is expensive \u2014 about $10-$12,000 annually for a family. \u201cThese are low-income, working families. The idea that they can afford private health coverage is not feasible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Community Health Clinics May Shut Down<\/h2>\n

Community Health Clinics can provide a short-term safety net to people who lose Medicaid coverage: CHCs accept people without health insurance. \u201cHowever, if big Medicaid cuts go through, that is going to devastate community health centers because they rely on Medicaid to furnish a huge part of their revenue,\u201d said Dorn, noting that if revenue goes down, CHCs will be forced to offer fewer services or shut down entirely.<\/p>\n

People without health insurance will simply avoid getting treatment, said Dorn. \u201cIf you have high blood pressure, well, you can\u2019t afford to fill your prescription without any insurance. I mean, that\u2019s hundreds of dollars a month. And what happens is people\u2019s blood pressure goes up, with a 40% greater chance of death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that women without insurance who have breast cancer developing and they don\u2019t know it are less likely to go to the doctor. They\u2019re not going to be screened. That means their cancer isn\u2019t picked up until it is advanced and harder to treat. And we know that means that people are more likely to die,\u201d said Dorn.<\/p>\n

\u2018Health Care is a Human Right\u2019<\/h2>\n

Rural hospitals and CHCs are likely to take a big hit from Medicaid cuts, said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the National Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Many will simply close down, which means that the community at large in those areas will have no place to go, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201dHealth care is a civil and human right. We\u2019re talking about real people and real lives,\u201d said Wiley.<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Ethnic Media Services<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySunita Sohrabji 11 civil rights organizations March 13 jointly released a report on the impact of a proposed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7021,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7019\/revisions\/7021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}