Will YOU March for Medicaid?
Will You March for Medicaid?
On March 6, 2017, Congress removed the “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” from it’s locked down secret location and revealed to the world the GOP plan for healthcare. The announcement has many of us scratching our heads wondering if Medicaid services as we have come to know them will change. The answer is still unclear.
What we do know is Congress is swiftly moving on a new agenda and some say Medicaid will be changed, possibly moving towards Block Grants. Word on the street is that this could mean a 50% cut in services for Medicaid recipients in Colorado.
I do not know your journey as a parent, but I am familiar with the steps you take. My guess is that for most of you Medicaid is the life blood of your family’s support system for your child with disabilities or special health care needs. And, I know with the scratch point of a pen on a hallowed white document all you have come to know here in Colorado may disappear.
What You Need to Know….
Medicaid is deeply intertwined with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Colorado along with 30 other states expanded state Medicaid programs drawing down federal matching dollars.
As part of the “Repeal and Replace” efforts currently underway in Washington, DC, the GOP blueprint establishes a different direction for Medicaid and long-term services. In this current version we MAY have caught a break as Medicaid expansion states will be supported at current levels until 2020.
Colorado potentially could see a fifty percent cut in Medicaid programs as well as other impacts if Congress moves to implement block grant funding for Medicaid. Block granting and Per Capita Funding allow states more flexibility in how Medicaid funds are utilized. However, these funds would be limited and most likely reduced.
I remember a time without Medicaid.
I was a single, working mother of two. For the first eleven years of Mikelle’s young life, we received no Medicaid and our medical insurance refused to pay for any costs relating to her disability. However, Mikelle never went without what she needed to progress in her life. She had a mom who was powerful in her fundraising efforts to pay for wheelchairs, communication devices, and therapies. While many good things came from continual fundraising, it was exhausting.
Will YOU March for Medicaid?
Today, I appeal to your survival instincts, I ask you to awaken your quiet voices for it is time to March for Medicaid.
Contact your legislators today, tomorrow and the next day. Call until we know our young children, our school age children, and our adult children have the Medicaid services they deserve. Our voices together are powerful! Our Senators and Representatives in Congress are listening. It’s time to March for Medicaid!
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Protect our Care Colorado is a coalition of organizations working together to share the impacts of health care changes in Colorado. There are several steps you can take to make a difference on their website. We encourage you to share your story!
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Editor’s Note: Thank you to P2P Members Katherine Carol and Kelly Stahlman for being great advocates and sharing the pictures above of events they’ve attended!
