We are halfway through the largest purge ever conducted through Medicaid, and medical debt is now the largest source of bankruptcies.
The colloquial definition of “relax” means “to relax. ” Other definitions include: relaxing, getting to the bottom of, getting to the bottom of. . . all words that, on the surface, seem passive and peaceful. And yet, on Google’s searches involving likely risk-free definitions of decompression and rest, news articles abound about the end of pandemic-era Medicaid expansion systems — a topic that, for the millions of people who are now uninsured, is anything but relaxing.
Picture this: Since March 2023, 16 million Americans (yes, that’s right, 16 million) have lost their fitness coverage, totaling 4 million children, as states redefine Medicaid eligibility for the first time in three years. Worse, the country is only halfway through the biggest purge ever opposed to Medicaid, as the expansion and extension of physical care to millions of people, brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, has come to an end, leaving some families no longer eligible, while others will. They will need to reapply through a new procedure in their state.
Some states feel the impact is strong. In Georgia, for example, more than 149,000 young people lost their Medicaid enrollment in just six months. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Texas is the epicenter of the Medicaid crisis. There, more than two million Americans have been removed from the state’s Medicaid program. since federal protections against the pandemic were lifted last April. As Axios reported, new insights from the state indicate “that this is the highest number of any state and nearly equivalent to the total of Houston, Texas’ most populous city, with 2. 3 million more people. waste policy in less than a year. “In fact, 61% of enrollees in Texas have lost Medicaid since last April.
In my home state, political analysts expect more than 1. 1 million New Yorkers to be excluded from their Medicaid participation as part of this same outcome. Fortunately, other people are organizing in response, which is not easy for the right to health care, to a livelihood. wages, the abolition of poverty, and much more.
On Saturday, March 2, I stood with Becca Forsyth of Elmira, New York, at the Poor People’s Campaign’s National Mass Assembly of the Poor People’s Work Poor in Albany, New York. Becca, one of dozens of other low-income people who testified at concurrent conventions held in 31 state capitals and Washington, D. C. These assemblies ushered in 40 weeks of mobilizing and organizing the deficient and low-income electorate in the run-up to the 2024 elections. elected officials, to tackle poverty, the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Becca wasn’t the only one to speak out about the caregiving crisis (and its connection to poverty and death), but her words stayed with me:
“Since December 19, I have lost more than a dozen people that I thoroughly enjoyed. In 74 days, I’ve noticed that other people I’ve known for almost my entire life literally die crushed to death by poverty and the catastrophic effect it has on our entire lives. People like Missy, a 47-year-old woman found dead next to the exercise tracks. . . Or Gary, who died at the hands of the police while in the hospital from a brain crisis. Or Loretta, a friend who was a friend even before I knew what the word friend meant, who is no longer with us because my network doesn’t need to spend money on addiction treatment. Chemung County leads this state too negatively. We rank 59th out of 62 New York boroughs for fitness results. We are dealing with outrageous homelessness, food insecurity, premature death rates, and lead poisoning. Our chances of getting out of poverty are extinguished before we even have a chance!
Just two days before I joined Becca in Albany, the state capital, to claim the right to thrive and not just survive a little, I met with the physical care staff and network members at SUNY Downstate Hospital. With New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, SUNY Chancellor John King recently announced that his team would possibly close SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, one of the few hospitals with a public safety net in the state.
At the meeting, network members, hospital workers, local politicians, and devout leaders shared facts about the very important role the hospital has played in the network. It has served as a Covid shelter where thousands of lives were stored in the fire position of the pandemic. an incredible birthing position for Black mothers (very important given the maternal fitness results for so many women of color), the only kidney transplant hospital in Brooklyn, and one of the only training hospitals left in the region after those services were shut down, especially in the slums of Brooklyn and the rest of New York City.
Sadly, doing away with hospitals or cutting them in the poorest neighborhoods is all too typical of this country. Big conglomerates are buying up chains and making decisions based solely on their bottom line, not the desires of our communities. In fact, more than six hundred rural hospitals are now at risk of closing due to currency instability and account for more than 30% of America’s rural facilities. For some of them, the option to close is immediate, according to a new report from the Center for Payment Quality and Reform (CHQPR). ).
These Medicaid cuts and hospital closures are just two manifestations of a much broader attack on fitness and health care in America, in what is quickly becoming a murderous nation. They are just the precursors to an even greater “disturbance” of our fitness. as a nation. Before the pandemic and the most recent budget cuts, 87 million Americans were already uninsured or underinsured. We’re talking about other people sharing attack drugs because they can’t get their own prescriptions, burying their children for lack of medical care. , and relying on emergency rooms instead of preventative care, leading to bankruptcy.
It’s pretty simple. Many of us are unaware of the care we need. In 2022, more than one in 4 adults (28% of us) reported delaying or abandoning a combination of medical, prescription, intellectual fitness, or dental care just because they had the ability to pay.
Meanwhile, medical debt is rising too fast. A study of this debt by the Census Bureau found that in 2021, 15% of all American families had medical debt, or 20 million people (nearly one in 12 adults). The U. S. Revenue and Program Share (SIPP) survey suggests that in total, Americans owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, the largest source of bankruptcies in the country.
And of course, as I’ve written before, all of this is tied to another reality: life expectancy is falling for everyone, while the handicapped can expect to die, on average, 12 to 13 years earlier than the rich. Worse, the mortality gap between rich and deficient in this country has increased by as much as 570% since 1980. As the Washington Post reported, “The United States is increasingly a country of rich and poor, measured not just through bank accounts and asset values. “, but also through symptoms and important tombstones. Dying prematurely is the most revealing measure of the development of inequality in the country.
In the face of all this, one wonders how things can possibly get worse. Recently, Congress announced possible cuts to other food and fitness programs for the poor. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (known as WIC) could lose a billion dollars, necessarily guaranteeing destructive discounts on this lifeline for low-income families and children. If Congress refuses to fully fund the program, existing investment levels would likely not cover all eligible participants.
In fact, the $1 billion shortfall expected to occur equates to 1. 5 months of benefits for all recipients of the program or six months of benefits for all pregnant women and infants participating in WIC. Lately, House Republicans have been refusing to approve the budget for this important program. A program that helps moms and children under the age of five get staples like fruits, vegetables, and infant formula, and connects them to fitness resources.
In an interview with NBC News, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called WIC “one of the most important, evidence-based public fitness systems available. “He implored Congress to fully fund the program, which provides its participants with “life-changing benefits and services. “”
And Vilsack is still not wrong when he talks about the importance of this program for the poor and for fitness. Many studies suggest the critical role WIC plays in “supporting maternal fitness and children’s development. “WIC participation during pregnancy is linked to a lower risk of preterm birth, a lower risk of low birth weight, and a lower risk of infant mortality. Children who get WIC benefits are more likely to follow healthier diets, and this only has an effect on increases as the child stays in the program for a long time, which also has a significant reach. As the Department of Agriculture reports, “Nearly 40% of U. S. infants participate in WIC, which is only available to pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and youth who meet income source criteria and are determined to be at nutritional risk through a physical care professional. “
But as those systems are being trimmed and more and more people are facing a plethora of disorders that are already affecting the nation’s health, many will most likely drop out of school altogether, assuming there’s nothing that can be done that is possible. It’s too expensive to address inequality and poverty. However, as I have been organizing among the deficient for over 30 years, I would like to recommend that, as a nation, it simply cannot be as “good” as it is.
Throughout my life, there have been debates about how to deal with the broader fitness crisis in American society. When I was in high school, there was already a debate about the effectiveness of creating a national fitness care program, when Presidents Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were campaigning to expand fitness care and proposed a new plan to do so in 1993. At the time, I don’t forget to hear complaints about Canada’s nationalized physical care system. It was said that people there faced long lines, too much paperwork and a lack of features for patients.
Today, given the evolution of our physical care formula, I can almost laugh (albeit sadly) at what it would mean to have this Canadian formula of years gone by. Unfortunately, this country has followed the United States in cutting and privatizing its health services. Care formula.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is considered by many to be one of the most important policies enacted during Barack Obama’s presidency, given that more than 20 million people obtained health care policies through it and that the ACA’s policies They have made it easier for those eligible. other people to enroll in Medicaid. In particular, the ACA expanded Medicaid policy to nearly all adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty point ($20,783 in 2024) and helped states, by offering federal matching funds, expand Medicaid to more residents. However, the ACA has not gone far enough. To date, 40 states and Washington D. C. have pursued Medicaid expansion, while 10 states have not. Even in states benefiting from Medicaid expansion, many of us are still not covered. And now we’re seeing one of the biggest attacks on fitness and fitness in decades (and I think we’ll most likely face it if Donald Trump becomes our next president and/or MAGA Republicans take over Congress).
What this country wants is a complete overhaul of its physical care system. For starters, Medicaid wants to expand, expand, and incorporate into a single-payer universal health plan. Workers want the right to jobs that pay a living wage and come with generous benefits, adding paid family members and guaranteed on poor fitness leave. Social coverage systems such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, WIC and the Child Tax Credit want to be strengthened so that everyone can enjoy the abundance of this society. Health care debts deserve to be forgiven, while drug recovery systems deserve to be fully funded. And parks and recreation centers, as well as retail grocery establishments that offer quality, affordable food, are expected to proliferate, starting in underserved communities.
It’s not enough to protest the end of Medicaid systems as a pandemic. Even that old protest chant, “They say reduce, we say retaliate!” doesn’t go far enough. Instead, the 135 million deficient and low-income Americans, and indeed the rest of us, will have to deal with health care and many other fundamental human rights.
Let me end not with my own words, but with Becca Forsyth’s challenge to Americans in her testimony to the Poor People’s Campaign that day in Albany. “We will have to prevent this typhoon of political violence that is killing our friends and neighbors,” he said. he said excitedly. It doesn’t have to be this way! We can use our votes as tough demands. The time for standing on the sidelines is over. We will have to move forward together as if our lives depend on it. . . Our children’s lives! Because they do!!”
How is she!
Liz Theoharis is a theologian, ordained minister, and anti-poverty activist. Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Renewal. What is the writer of Siempre con nosotros? What Jesus said about the poor. She teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.