70 Million Americans Face Loss of Healthcare as Congress Proposes $800 Billion Cut to Medicaid

Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service

The House of Representatives recently proposed $800 billion in cuts to the Medicaid budget, causing concern and concern among medical experts, predominantly Hispanic and African-American communities, and disadvantaged groups. Some federal health services and research agencies have said that as many as 70 million people may lose or have their health insurance benefits reduced. EMS held a briefing on March 21 to discuss the imperative issue.

Joan Alker, Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families and Research Professor at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy Foundation said that many elderly people have dual federal and local health insurance, and the two insurances complement each other. Once one insurance is cut, the other benefits will be suppressed. This is also an important function and feature of federal health insurance. It allows the U.S. medical system to operate normally. If this part is missing, the difficulty of operating other medical systems will increase. She said that in some rural and remote areas, some hospitals have closed, and many states are unable to make up for cuts in federal funding, which may lead to cuts in other local expenditures, causing a butterfly effect. Increasing efforts to combat medical fraud in various states is the fundamental solution to the problem.

Stan Dorn, Director of the Health Policy Project at UnidosUS said this is the largest federal health care cut in U.S. history. The closest thing to this figure was in 1981, when the Reagan administration cut the federal Medicaid budget by 13%. Dorn believes that massive cuts to federal Medicaid will affect everyone, with Hispanics and African Americans bearing the brunt. Their recent analysis shows that more than 20 million Hispanics, 13 million African Americans, about 3.5 million Asian Pacific Americans and 700,000 Native Americans currently rely on federal Medicaid. In addition, 31 million children receive Medicaid through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and these people will be affected if the budget is cut. He explained that the current proposed cuts include people who do not meet the work requirements; in other words, some people with disabilities, people taking care of children, caregivers of the elderly, etc. may lose federal health insurance or have their insurance benefits reduced.

Joanne Preece, Director of Government and External Affairs, Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County said that there are 3,200 community health service centers across the country, which are very important for students, the elderly, pregnant women, veterans and the disabled. In Los Angeles County, where she is located, there are 60 family health centers serving 2 million patients; 74% of the patients are low-income people, with incomes less than 200% of the federal average. She said that most people in Los Angeles County now have health insurance, but as of 2023, 14% of people will still have no health insurance.

Also Read: Medicaid: A critical health safety net under fire