Stephanie Manfredo, a Rhode Island mother of three, says Medicaid was a lifesaver for her family after several of her children were born at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence with significant health complications.
She said she worries about cuts Republican lawmakers in Washington are now considering.
“The cuts being proposed could absolutely cripple families like mine,” she said.
Manfredo spoke at a news conference held Monday at the hospital by members of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rep. Seth Magaziner, and Rep. Gabe Amo were speaking up in defense of Medicaid, the state’s largest provider of health care.
One out of three Rhode Islanders get coverage from Medicaid, including children, low-income individuals, and people with disabilities.
“If you know a family that is having a baby in Rhode Island it’s very likely they are being supported by Medicaid,” said Whitehouse.
“If you have a family member who is elderly and in a nursing home, or if you know someone who is elderly and in a nursing home, there’s about a two-thirds chance they’re being paid for by Medicaid,” he said.
Republican lawmakers are seeking deep budget cuts to balance out an extension of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which expire at the end of the year.
Trump has promised not to touch Medicare or Social Security so that leaves Medicaid as the most likely source of the $880 billion they would like to cut over the next ten years.
“A reduction of this magnitude would leave thousands of Rhode Islanders without health care coverage,” warned Dr. Michael Wagner, president and CEO of the Care New England health care system.
Because state and federal governments share the cost of Medicaid, lawmakers in Providence would have tough decisions to make if the federal government cut Medicaid, said Rep. Seth Magaziner.
“States like Rhode Island are going to have to make a terrible decision,” Magaziner said. “Either the state is going to have to drop thousands of people from the Medicaid rolls, or reduce the scope of services covered by Medicaid, or they’re going to have to make draconian cuts in the state budget to make up the difference.”
Democrats say the cuts being considered this budget cycle would be the largest Medicaid cuts in the program’s history, taking health insurance and long-term care away from millions of vulnerable Americans in red and blue states alike.
“It is impossible,” Rep. Amo said, “to overstate the catastrophic impact of Medicaid cuts.”
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio.
