By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
It took 60 years for Medicaid to expand health care access to over 70 million Americans with low incomes and/or disabilities. As the U.S. now faces the largest federal subsidy rollback in history, how can Americans keep the struggle for health care justice moving forward — and can California’s fight to preserve historic expansions of Medi-Cal, its version of Medicaid, serve as a model for the rest of the country?
Pilar Marrero, journalist and author of American Community Media, served as moderator for this weekly briefing which featured three panelists: Dr. Ilan Shapiro Strygler, SVP, Chief Health Correspondent and Medical Affairs Officer, AltaMed Health Services. Dr. Shapiro was asked by
Mexican-American attorney and U.S. District Court Judge in Northern California, Araceli Martinez Olguin about the impact of cuts to Medicaid on the immigrant population. He indicated that “fear is created which translates to lack of trust and that when people are in survival mode, often times they will choose to not take care of the wellness aspects like diabetes or high blood pressure. More complications will then exist, more chronic disease, possibly even with influenzas in the Fall.”
Hung Doan, Ph.D., a professor at University of California’s division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, asked which community in California will be most affected by the cuts – immigrant, Latino, or Asian? “The cuts will impact all communities – probably not specific groups.” Elana Kuznetsova asked if there are any state programs or resources to help those that will most probably lose their Medi-Cal and also, if medical coverage is lost, what are step by step instructions for those people to get help at a reasonable cost and not get robbed? Shapiro indicated “there are many community clinics that will provide services on an as needed basis at a reasonable price. NACHC – National Association of Community Health Centers has a resource list on their website, https://www.nachc.org.
Cary Sanders, Senior Policy Director, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, founded in 1992 following the police beating of Rodney King to bring together groups of people of color and break down divisions and build a movement of racial solidarity behind a vision of quality healthcare. She shared that Medicaid came as a result of the Civil Rights Movement and that healthcare programs are also anti-poverty programs. States that have not made the choice to expand Medicaid have seen much higher rates of inequities in communities of color. HR1 – the One Big Beautiful Bill is an attack on states that have tried to serve immigrants, low wage workers, and people of color. When asked if this is a hopeless situation, she shared there is no sugarcoating these cuts, but that states do have the ability to mitigate harms. She expressed that in California, most residents’ view healthcare as a fundamental right. ‘In California, using the Affordable Care Act, we are now only six percentage points away from achieving universal coverage.”
She was asked how much are we at risk of losing the progress we have made? “Nationally it’s an enormous amount of money and millions will lose coverage. We do have time to educate and let people know what was in that Bill and hope to change it.” Another participant, Pamela, asked what can grassroots groups do to assist immigrants many of which cannot even work with a sliding scale when faced with fees? “In California there will be some options, including to access emergency medical care. The uninsured may be eligible for financial assistance, and hospitals should be proactively screening people to ensure patients get their care.”
The final panelist was Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Families USA and formerly head of Health Access California. “This Bill is a disaster. There are estimates that up to 16 million will lose coverage due to eligibility but also due to cost, and escalating premiums. It cuts hospitals and clinics as well – will they decide to cut people, benefits, or rates to providers. It could affect maternity wards, nursing homes, community clinics, rural hospitals will have to scale back or close altogether. What can we do? Hold people accountable for their votes. There are people in DC now that are looking at making further cuts in areas that we were successful in holding off initially. There needs to be federal advocacy related to tax cuts expiring at the end of the year. The Bill extended tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, but they neglected to extend tax credits that help people afford health care. On September 30th, when Congress has to fund the extension of the government, and that is when we do have a chance for change, but it must start right now. People need to communicate with their members of congress, or some could see an escalation by 75% for their healthcare premiums.”
Although plenty of emphasis was placed on California in this webinar, Mississippi has similar issues. Mississippi’s conservative majority in the state legislature has refused to expand Medicaid, and the state is forecasted to lose rural hospitals as a result. This installment of the series can be viewed in its entirety at https://americancommunitymedia.org/media-briefings/medicaid-turns-60-the-road-ahead-for-health-care-justice.
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