Congresswoman Nanette Barragán spoke out this week against the proposed Republican cuts to Medi-Cal, also known as Medicaid, outlined during last week’s budget hearing.
She referred to the House Republican budget as one that betrays the American people and the middle class.
“Republicans want to rip away health care for millions of Americans, all to give trillions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations,” Barragán said. “The Republican proposals to slash Medicaid funding would rip this safety net away from those who need it most, putting lives at risk and increasing costs for everyone.”
She was adamant in pointing out that Medicaid has worked.
“It ensures that families, children, seniors and people with disabilities can see a doctor, afford their prescriptions and get the in-home care they need to live with dignity.”
More than 10 million people in California alone receive Medi-Cal benefits. Barragán spoke alongside Martha Santana-Chin, CEO of LA Care Health Plan, who pointed out that the proposed GOP budget plan that imposes work requirements or shifts the costs back to each respective state would threaten the program’s stability.
“These cuts would reduce coverage, limit access to doctors and mental health services and eliminate critical benefits like dental and vision care,” said Santana-Chin. “We recognize that Washington faces tough budget decisions, but balancing the budget should not come at the expense of working families, seniors and children. Health care is not a partisan issue – it’s a human one.”
Barragán said the possible loss of Medi-Cal is a personal issue for her.
“My mother is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s, and she is a recipient of this program and she’s able to stay home, and be home, and get that care in her final times because of Medicaid’s home community-based programming,” Barragán shared.
“She was on the waiting list for months, and here in California alone, there are over 9,000 people on the waiting list just to get this care. If we cut Medicaid, that waiting list can grow. People can lose the ability to get their care,” said Barragán.
She said this threat to health care for millions of people comes at a time when the opposite is needed when we should be fighting for access to more resources for people’s health care, but instead, there is a proposal threatening to diminish it.
“Hospitals and community health centers could also lose from this loss of federal funding. We don’t need to see hospitals closed. We need to see them open and available for people to get services,” Barragán said.
Adequate health care is essential to everyone, but this proposed budget doesn’t consider the importance and the value of every person, the legislator pointed out.
“This Republican rip-off threatens our nation’s children and jeopardizes access to long-term care. It would devastate our nation’s response as well to the opioid crisis,” Barragán spoke frankly. “This is stealing money from the American taxpayers to give to their billionaire friends like Elon Musk.
“Medicaid, we have to remember, isn’t just about numbers – these are people. Nationwide, Medicaid covers about 41% of all births. It covers about 38% of health care for children and 61% of long-term care, including care for seniors.”
Barragán said she, with others, is going to stand up and fight against any cuts to Medicaid and Medicaid programs.
She pointed out that this administration promised to lower costs, but this isn’t what is occurring.
“They promised to lower costs in grocery stores. They promised to lower costs for everybody across the board. This is not lowering costs. On the contrary, this is going to increase costs. It’s going to make it hard for people to get access. And frankly, we only need three Republicans. We need three House Republicans to say we stand with you on Medicaid, to stop this budget and to stop this proposal.”