Congress is locked in a budget battle that’s grabbed round-the-clock media attention. Lost in the coverage are the real stakes in the debate, including the lives of the more than 50 million people covered by Medicaid, which is now in the budget-cutting cross-hairs. More than half of these 50 million are people of color. Racial disparities in health coverage have already reached alarming proportions. Cuts to Medicaid would make these disparities even worse, taking a toll on the real lives of real people. The experiences and perspectives of some of these real people are captured in Medicaid Makes a Difference: Protecting Medicaid, Advancing Racial Equity, from the Alliance for a Just Society and 14 members of its Health Rights Organizing Project, a network of grassroots organizations across the country committed to the fight for health equity.
Thanks to Medicaid, Robert Jackson, of Columbia, Missouri, received physical therapy after a stroke; now he knows how to get up after falls and can do it on his own. Gina Owens’ grandchildren, in Seattle, Washington, get their asthma inhalers through the program. And when Hubo became pregnant in Lewiston, Maine, doctors and nurses were there to help because of Medicaid. Without the program, none of this care would be available to Robert, Gina and her grandchildren, Hubo, and millions of people like them. Congress has been doling out tax breaks to corporations and millionaires. It’s time for Congress to change its priorities, because Medicaid matters, and so do our country’s communities of color.
Click HERE to call your Member of Congress and tell them to protect Medicaid and stand strong for people of color!