Some are raising alarms about the potential effects in Texas of Medicaid cuts
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey held a roundtable with various representatives in the healthcare industry last week to discuss the impact of possible cuts to Medicaid health insurance by Congress.
The roundtable, Moms & Medicaid: How Medicaid Impacts Maternal Care and Family Health, was held Friday, May 9, at The Center for Transforming Lives, 3001 S. Riverside Drive. Representatives from Texas Health, Parkland Hospital, Maternal Mortality & Morbidity Advocates, a maternal health patient advocates program, and others attended.
Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, says one in two births in Texas are covered under Medicaid and about 150,000 out of the 775,000 people in the 33rd Congressional District he represents are on Medicaid.
Cutting Medicaid, Veasey said, will hurt not just Texans, but moms around the country. He said Democrats in Congress are trying their best to lobby against the cuts, though they have limited power as the minority party.
“When you talk to the patients in the communities that you serve, let them know that we are really working hard, and we’re trying, and we are pushing back, and we’re standing up to what we feel are unjust cuts to people’s healthcare,” Veasey said.
President Trump has proposed a domestic policy agenda which, among other things, asks for increased spending on immigration enforcement, and defense, and tax cuts. The Energy and Commerce Committee has been directed to find $880 billion in savings and spending cuts to help fund Trump’s agenda. Medicaid, a government program that provides health insurance for millions of low-income adults and children, is among the targets for savings.
Russ Weaver, vice president of Mission, Community and Government Advocacy at Texas Health Huguley, said 13 percent of the hospital’s residents use Medicaid but 52 percent of its deliveries and 50 percent of its adolescence psychiatric services are for people who have Medicaid.
To cut Medicaid, which does not completely cover the cost of a patient’s care, puts additional financial pressure on the hospital and raises concerns about what will happen to mothers and their babies, Weaver said.
“If we end up with cuts in Medicaid, it just causes any healthcare organization to pause and say, ‘What does that mean for our ability to continue to serve those in our community that are underserved already, and is it going to jeopardize that?,’ ” Weaver said.
Patricia Rodriguez, chief medical officer of North Texas Area Community Health Centers Inc., said 80 percent of the children served by the organization are on Medicaid.
“Losing Medicaid coverage, or any kind of cuts to Medicaid for children, would mean that they would not be able to access primary healthcare, preventive services, vaccines, dental care, mental health, and all other things that help keep kids healthy,” Rodriguez said.
Veasey said there will be a rise in the call to kick the “able-bodied man” from Medicaid, which he described as a dog-whistle term to unfairly target people who appear able to work but can’t. While Veasey acknowledged fraud can occur, he said the cuts will hurt everyone, especially women.
Marsha Jones, executive director of The Afiya Center, a reproductive justice organization in Dallas, said the cuts will make things worse for people who already do not get all the help they need.
“We serve people that are already in these systems where any significant change is going to impact them and they’re going to come to us more than they ever came before,” Jones said.
