The Western New York health industry isn’t waiting for Medicaid cuts proposed in the federal budget.
U.S. Representative Tim Kennedy led a coalition Friday at Oishei Children's Hospital, which included community figures, politicians, and health leaders criticizing the planned cuts. The reductions would total $880 billion federally and $3 billion in the Buffalo-Niagara region.
It would be especially catastrophic to those safety net hospitals providing care regardless of insurance status or whether patients can pay, said Dr. Michael Cummings, associate medical director of Erie County Medical Center.
“We're a safety net hospital. ‘Safety net’ is not a metaphor, it's what we do each and every day," he said. "You fall, we catch you, regardless of what causes that fall, whether it be a motor vehicle accident, a ruptured appendix.”
The significance of Medicaid goes far beyond a set of financial figures, said Peter De Jesús, Jr., President of the WNY Area Labor Federation.
"Medicaid isn't numbers on a budget sheet; it's a mother in Buffalo who can take her child to the doctor without choosing between medicine and rent," he said. "It's a nursing home worker in Rochester who can afford a checkup instead of ending up in the ER. It is the backbone of care for our seniors, our children and our neighbors with disabilities."
More than half the board members for health centers have to be consumers, which provides a unique perspective, said LaVonne Ansari, CEO of the Community Health Center of Buffalo.
She also says the immediate issue is Medicaid, but the bigger picture is about more.
“I'm talking about the soul of the healthcare this community of this country, because health centers are the primary systems," she said. "And by the way, it's bipartisan, because we have health centers in every district in the government.”
Kennedy says he hopes Republican lawmakers hear the voices of protest and reverse course on the decision.
