Pols, Docs: Medicaid Must Be Saved

Politicians and healthcare providers gathered to send a message that cutting Medicaid is a matter of life and death.

They made the case that at stake is the well-being not only of those insured by the program — including roughly 60,000 New Haveners — but of their families and communities as well.

State Comptroller Sean Scanlon organized a roundtable featuring U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, State Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton-Reeves, State Sens. Martin Looney and Matt Lesser, Mayor Justin Elicker, and over a dozen healthcare providers and advocates in a Fair Haven Community Health Care conference room on Monday afternoon. 

They convened to illuminate the impacts of a federal budget resolution that would require a congressional committee to cut $880 billion from its budget — which mathematically requires hundreds of billions of dollars to be cut from either Medicare (which covers basic health services for elderly and some disabled patients), Medicaid (which insures low-income patients and covers nursing home and health aide services not provided by Medicare), or both. 

President Donald Trump has vowed that Medicare will remain untouched. So if Congressional Republicans stay committed to the resolution, Medicaid will face severe slashes.

The resolution would enable tax cuts including a $1.1 trillion break for the country’s wealthiest 1 percent, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

On Monday, DeLauro vowed to fight for Medicaid to remain intact by convincing her Republican colleagues of its impact on the constituents in their districts. ​“We are prepared to go to battle,” she said, holding up a packet of statistics.

According to the Department of Social Services, 59,802 New Haven residents — including over 21,500 children and over 3,000 seniors — are covered by Medicaid.

Across the state, according to a 2024 fact sheet from Connecticut Health Foundation, 40 percent of Connecticut Medicaid recipients are children (which translates to over 366,000 kids). Medicaid covers two out of three nursing home residents as well as 38 percent of all childbirths in the state, according to the fact sheet, which also states that about two thirds of adults on Medicaid are employed.

The consequences of cutting Medicaid are yet to be determined and will likely vary by state. They may include revoking the health insurance of certain populations (such as those not covered prior to the Affordable Care Act), limiting access to certain kinds of healthcare, and reducing reimbursements for the institutions providing that healthcare, placing community health organizations and elderly care providers in financial jeopardy.

“This is devastating. People will not be able to access care and people will not be able to eat,” said Commissioner Barton-Reeves, pointing out that SNAP (food stamp) cuts are also implicitly mandated by the budget resolution. ​“This is about the survival of people.”

“Every single day, I feel that someone comes to me scared and concerned about what’s going on in the government,” said Karla Tejada Arias, a geriatric physician at Fair Haven Community Health Care. 

She noted that reducing Medicaid coverage has ripple effects beyond the immediate, high-stakes healthcare consequences for patients.

For instance, if Medicaid stops adequately covering nursing home or in-home care for her elderly patients, the families of those patients will need to step in to provide that care. ​“Now they have to take off from work to take care of their parents,” she said. Those families would have less income and face far tighter budgets. They may fall deeper into poverty. 

Meanwhile, the economy would be impacted on a larger scale: Providers such as home care aides would lose employment, and fewer families would have the disposable income to help keep local businesses afloat. 

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Tejada Arias said.

Several observed that the status quo of Medicaid funding has led to financial constraints on healthcare providers.

Shawn Frick, CEO of the Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, said that even before any proposed Medicaid cuts take effect, healthcare providers that primarily serve low-income patients are already struggling to maintain all of their services. Two community health centers in the state have already stopped providing dental care this year, he noted. 

Reimbursement rates are ​“really low” for Medicaid patients, echoed State Sen. Martin Looney, which disincentivizes doctors from accepting the insurance plan altogether — and reduces access to care.

Katherine Villeda, the coalition director at HUSKY 4 Immigrants, pointed out that thousands of undocumented Connecticut residents already know what it’s like to lack health insurance. 

HUSKY 4 Immigrants successfully advocated for children under 18 to be eligible for the state’s HUSKY healthcare system regardless of immigration status, as long as they sign up before the age of 15. This program is funded entirely by the state.

“Our communities want to hear from you that [healthcare coverage for undocumented children] won’t be on the chopping block,” Villeda urged the legislators present.

She noted that many uninsured people find themselves forgoing preventive healthcare because they do not expect to be able to afford it. As a result, they can face more dangerous medical problems — not to mention higher bills — down the line.

“My dad didn’t see a dentist for 20 years,” Villeda said. When he finally saw one, he needed $5,000 worth of dental care.