AURORA | Proposed Medicaid cuts would have devastating consequences for families, children and vulnerable individuals in the Aurora region, Democratic Congressman Jason Crow said Friday at a press conference held at a community clinic.
“115,000 people in our district rely on Medicaid, over half of whom are children,” Crow told a small group of community health activists and reporters at a STRIDE community clinic in north Aurora.
“Republicans want to end medical coverage for sick kids, people with disabilities, and other Coloradans to finance tax cuts for the richest Americans,” Crow said. “This is a truly cruel act. Billionaires and corporations line their pockets, and you lose your healthcare.”
Republicans are weighing billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, threatening health care coverage for some of the 80 million U.S. adults and children enrolled in the safety net program.
Millions more Americans signed up for taxpayer-funded health care coverage like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace during the Biden administration, a shift lauded by Democrats as a success.
Colorado was among states showing a big boost in Medicaid recipients, paid in part by state dollars.
But Republicans, who are looking to slash federal spending and offer lucrative tax cuts to corporations and wealthier Americans, now see a big target ripe for trimming. The $880 billion Medicaid program is financed mostly by federal taxpayers, who pick up as much as 80% of the tab in some states. And states, too, have said they’re having trouble financing years of growth and sicker patients who enrolled in Medicaid.
To whittle down the budget, the GOP-controlled Congress is eyeing work requirements for Medicaid. It’s also considering paying a shrunken, fixed rate to states. All told, over the next decade, Republican lawmakers could try to siphon billions of dollars from the nearly-free health care coverage offered to the poorest Americans.
“There are people who want us to be afraid they can do what they want, and I refuse to give them that power,” Crow said. “I don’t do fear well, and I’m not going to do it here.”
Crow, an outspoken advocate for healthcare access, said that federally qualified health clinics like STRIDE are the front lines of care for many in the community. He warned that Medicaid cuts would lead to fewer appointments, longer wait times, and reduced access to essential services like preventative care, mental health support and chronic disease treatment.
“Medicaid is a lifeline for the patients we serve at STRIDE. It ensures that our patients can access essential healthcare without financial hardship,” said Dr. Megan Adamson. “Without it, many in our community would face worsening health and higher costs due to delayed care.”
Crow said that the broader impact of healthcare funding on the entire community would cause untreated illnesses to spread, increase overall healthcare costs, and strain the economy.
“Healthcare is community health,” he said. “Depriving healthcare to somebody in our community, regardless of who they are, will be felt. It will inflict pain in our community in some way.”
Crow and other critics of the Republican proposal say that cutting Medicaid will shift costs elsewhere.
“If somebody can come here and get preventative care, stop a disease from spreading early, everybody pays less,” Crow said. “It is an investment that helps everybody.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The Medicaid program has been expanded to the point that even middle class families are on it. It is rife with fraud. I knew one family that owned a million dollar business and everyone in the family was on Medicaid. The way they did it was to put all of their property, including their house that they owned free and clear, into a obscure trust so legally they owned nothing. All business profits were reinvested into the business so they had no income. That is how they qualified for Medicaid. I don’t think this case is unique. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and especially Social Security Disability programs are rife with fraud. Our government programs need to be cleaned up.
Amen!!!
I know this guy – lets call him Kirk, who thinks a house is income and that it’s the kids fault if they are sick or disabled.
Sounds like Jack is having trouble believing my story. Can’t blame you. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t been told firsthand. And by the way, there were no sick or disabled. The kids were grown and worked in the family business. They paid themselves a paltry amount from business profits so they would quality for Medicaid.
If you liked that story, here’s another. I had a neighbor who rented out a room to a friend. The friend was on Medicaid and must have had some emotional issues – he didn’t like being alone and needed attention. A couple times per week, about 1/2 hour after my neighbor left for work, he would call 911 and be taken in an ambulance to the ER. They never found anything wrong but this went on like clockwork for 2-3 months until he moved out. There was no copay, he just showed his Medicaid card and taxpayers footed the bill. They had to respond each time he called even though they knew what he was doing and there was nothing wrong with him. It probably all could have probably been prevented with a $50 copay per trip.
The Democrat Party regularly uses any crisis, real or imagined, to greatly increase spending on social welfare programs. They greatly lower eligibility for enrollment in these programs. Then, when the crisis is over and Republicans want to return to previous levels of spending existing before the crisis, they call them “cuts” and say they are “cruel.” All that is being recommended here is to return to the same levels of spending on Medicaid that we had prior to “covid.”
So, Mr. Crow talks about the new DC leadership looking at making some changes to spending. He says he is upset about the impact to cuts to STRIDE are unfair and counterproductive.
This needed change in cutbacks in subsidizing insurance because Crow seems to be totally unaware, we as a county and state have been going off the financial cliff. Colorado like California has heavy funding into its own program. Colorado Medicaid is now called Health First Colorado. The notion of his pro-illegal immigration with its notoriously economic consequences a reason control this Medicaid is some far-fetched theory for Crow. STRIDE funding is overwhelmingly a Health First infusion.
“Beginning Jan. 1, for the first time, undocumented immigrants of all ages will qualify for Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for extremely low-income people. It makes California among the first states to fund comprehensive health care for undocumented immigrants. Oregon in July dropped age restrictions for undocumented immigrants in its low-income state health insurance program.”
“Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s Democratic-led Legislature have committed more than $4 billion to the Medi-Cal expansion annually. Newsom’s 2022 budget made the latest expansion possible, and though the state is now headed into a $68 billion deficit, advocates say the positive impact Medi-Cal will have on individual health is priceless.”
Our own health insurance premiums have doubled or more, and we, us taxpayers anyway, are now paying for most everyone else that shows up at STRIDE at the same time. Crow again thinks this scheme is okay That’s the way true Socialist feel about it. At the same time, what Crow doesn’t get, or never will is most working middle-class citizens, have gone backwards because of these kinds of policies. Coverages have become a bigger part of their own monthly budget. The Medicare 80/20 split, personal responsibly of the twenty percent has more than doubled in the last couple years. But Mr. Crow would rather have you believe that’s all profit to executives.
I depend on Medicaid for some health issues that keep me from working!