The Protect Our Healthcare Coalition pushes back against Republican plan to cut Medicaid

"At its most fundamental, Medicaid is our collective commitment to the ideal that every person deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare."

Advocates with the Protect Our Healthcare Coalition, a group of leading consumer and non-profit organizations, joined with Medicaid members and Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse at an event to speak out against deep cuts to Medicaid passed on Wednesday by the United States House Energy & Commerce Committee and to release a new report produced by the Coalition titled “Medicaid Matters In Rhode Island.”

Here’s the video:

“Right now, in Washington, Congress is working on a 10-year spending bill that includes over $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid as drafted, the largest cut to Medicaid since the program was established in 1965,” said Shamus Durac, Senior Attorney/Health Policy Analyst at RIPIN and the Coalition’s co-chair. The report notes that one in three Rhode Islanders depends on Medicaid for their coverage, including children, pregnant women, parents, seniors, people with disabilities, and adults. The program infused $2.6 billion in federal funds into Rhode Island’s economy in FY2023, supporting the healthcare system that serves all Rhode Islanders. Durac added, “The level of the cuts passed in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week would terminate healthcare for millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders, putting people and our health system at risk.”

United States Senator Jack Reed denounced the Republican plan to cut Medicaid. “The American people want more people to have health insurance and for it to be more affordable,” said Senator Reed. “Republicans apparently don’t agree and want to whack Medicaid so fewer people have coverage and costs go up. These cuts will do real harm, pushing seniors out of nursing homes, increasing hospital closures, and denying families access to preventative care. If you think the emergency room is crowded now, just wait until Trump’s Medicaid cuts happen.”

Lev Poplow of Cranston is a cancer survivor and a Medicaid recipient under Medicaid Expansion. “If it were not for Medicaid, I would be dead,” said Poplow. “For 35+ years, I was able to purchase private health insurance. And then the pandemic hit, and I lost all my clients. I needed health insurance, and I learned that I qualified for Medicaid. Shortly after that, I learned that I had stage four lymphoma. My treatment included getting hit with radiation 35 times and two-plus years of chemotherapy. I still take a daily pill form of chemotherapy, but I’m getting close to being done with my treatment. I’m a survivor, and I’m surviving because of Medicaid!”

The report documents that 85,059 adults in Rhode Island are currently covered under Medicaid Expansion, a population directly targeted in the House bill. “...the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act has saved lives, bringing many people into Medicaid coverage that would previously have been excluded,” said Durac. “Congress’s proposal to mandate work requirements for these adults is the opposite of common sense. A strong majority of Medicaid member adults who can work are already working. And work requirements actually make it harder for people to get and stay healthy enough for work, forcing people with chronic illnesses, family caregivers, freelancers, and gig workers to comply with byzantine reporting requirements and terminating coverage for anyone who doesn’t file the paperwork precisely correctly, regardless of if they’re actually eligible. Work requirements are simply an excuse to terminate eligible Medicaid enrollees’ healthcare.”

In 2023, Medicaid covered 56.9% of Rhode Island children, 44% of all childbirths in the state, and two of every three nursing home patients. In addition, 30,265 adults with disabilities and 12,344 children with special healthcare needs depended on Medicaid services.

“I’m living life to the fullest,” said Alex Amedeo of Warwick, speaking with his mom, Cristina, by his side. Alex was diagnosed with autism at the age of four. His parents, Cristina and Steve, were told Alex would likely never speak, handle his hygiene, or learn to read or write. But thanks to Medicaid under the Katie Beckett program, Alex received intensive therapy and services through the Warwick school system and programs like the Autism Project.

“Now, at 24, Alex is developing new independence, new friendships, and new milestones in his adult day program at Westbay, RI,” said Alex’s mother, Christina. “He’s thriving with the help of family, friends, and the staff at programs that are paid for by Medicaid!”

“Medicaid has been my lifesaver,” said Vincent DeJesus of Cranston, who lives with the consequences of brain trauma. “Without Medicaid, it would be impossible for me to live independently. Life would be very difficult. Medicaid enables me to volunteer in numerous agencies that help people who also face challenges like I do.”

“At its most fundamental, Medicaid is our collective commitment to the ideal that every person deserves access to quality, affordable healthcare,” said Durac.

The Medicaid Matters report is designed to help state and federal policy makers, as well as the public, have a clear understanding of who is insured by Medicaid, how the federal-state funding financing works, how Medicaid supports Rhode Island’s state and local economies, and how important the program is to sustaining the healthcare delivery system Rhode Islanders rely on. It includes stories of individual Medicaid beneficiaries to help bring the data and charts presented to life. Throughout, it provides information about the potential risks to Rhode Islanders that the cost-cutting proposals under debate in Congress could pose.