Medicaid cuts would widen racial disparities

As the new congressional Supercommittee!™ debates how to cut federal spending by $1.5 trillion in the next decade, hanging in the balance are the lives of millions who receive health coverage through Medicaid, more than half of them people of color.

National and state organizations across the country are calling on Congress to stand with communities of color rather than giving tax breaks to corporations and millionaires. The organizations have released a report, Medicaid Makes a Difference: Protecting Medicaid, Advancing Racial Equity, that shares the stories of patients, health providers, and community leaders who experience firsthand the benefits of Medicaid to communities of color.

For example, thanks to Medicaid, Gina Owens’ grandchildren in Seattle get their asthma inhalers and other critical medical services. Without the program, none of this care would be available to Gina and her grandchildren and millions of people like them.

“Drastic budgetary measures that undermine our health care system will further disenfranchise millions of Americans who have long been disconnected from the health care system due to a legacy of racial and ethnic health care disparities,” says Jennifer Ng’andu, Deputy Director of the Health Policy Project at the National Council of La Raza. “This report shows that the lives of people, especially people of color, are on the line. Congress needs to stand strong and protect Medicaid.”

Click here to send a message to your members of Congress urging against cuts in Medicaid.