A Key Stretch for Urging Congress to Protect Medicaid and Access to Care

Congress is back in Washington, D.C., for a critical three-week stretch in which House and Senate Republicans are seeking to strike a compromise on a common budget resolution that would allow them to start the budget reconciliation process to push through priorities on taxes, border security, energy and deficit reduction.

As we have been sharing for weeks, as part of these efforts Congress is considering proposals that would reduce funding for hospital care — including potentially devastating cuts to the Medicaid program — that would jeopardize access to the 24/7 care and services that hospitals provide.

Medicaid provides high-quality care for more than 72 million Americans, including hardworking families, children, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. More specifically: Medicaid covers 41% of all births in the United States, nearly half of children with special health care needs, 1 in 3 children with cancer, over 1.6 million veterans and 62% of nursing home residents. In addition, many hospitals and health systems, including those in rural areas, rely on Medicaid funding to support access to essential medical services, mental health care and other important programs.

Significant cuts to Medicaid would stress the availability of health care services for everyone. Hospitals that serve disproportionately high rates of Medicaid and other public-payer patients routinely operate at a financial loss. Additional reductions in federal support for Medicaid would exacerbate these pressures and could strip essential health care services for entire communities.

With such tight margins in the House and the Senate, every senator and representative’s vote is important. That’s why we continue an all-out effort to highlight for lawmakers the real consequences that cutting Medicaid would have for their constituents and their communities.

As part of those efforts, the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, of which the AHA is a founding member, is running a Faces of Medicaid national ad campaign that highlights Medicaid’s critical impact on the tens of millions of people who rely on the program for access to care. The campaign includes digital targeting of key elected officials, as well as publications inside the Beltway and influential new media outlets. The Coalition also is engaging its 2.6 million advocates in a grassroots campaign to send letters, make phone calls and send social media posts to their legislators urging them to protect access to care and services. 

While Republican lawmakers hope to reach an agreement on a common budget resolution before the Easter recess — there are still significant differences and issues that need to be ironed out — that would only start the process of committees drafting specifics for what would be included in a reconciliation package. So, while this activity still has a long way to go, with multiple opportunities to make our case to lawmakers ... we are entering a key part of the process.

Another excellent opportunity to reinforce our messages will be at the AHA’s Annual Membership Meeting May 4-6 in Washington, D.C.  At the meeting, attendees will hear from top policymakers, legislators and thought leaders on the most pressing issues facing our field and our country. They’ll also be able to deliver our advocacy messages on key priorities directly to their lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

In addition to rejecting cuts to Medicaid, we’ll be discussing, among other priorities, extending the enhanced premium tax credits that expire at the end of this year so millions of low- and middle-income individuals can purchase affordable private insurance on the health care exchanges; protecting the 340B Drug Pricing Program that requires drug companies to provide certain hospitals with discounted prices when buying outpatient medicines; and preventing so-called Medicare site-neutral payment policies, which if implemented would reduce access to critical health care services, especially in rural and other underserved communities.

With so much at stake in the coming weeks and months, speaking out often and with a unified message is critical. Let’s make sure our lawmakers hear from all of us about the indispensable role hospitals play in their communities and why we must protect access to 24/7 care for patients across America.