Medicaid Is Our Lifeline. Gov. Hochul and New York State Legislators Must Close the Coverage Gap!
Dear Representative,
As community leaders and people of faith, we are in close, daily contact with our community members. They are working people who are putting children through school and caring for the elderly and sick in their families. They include young people working to help pay their way through college; retirees, and people with disabilities.
We know first-hand what Medicaid means for our communities: it is nothing short of a lifeline. Medicaid pays for the healthcare of people with disabilities, and low- income families including pregnant women and children. During the COVID crisis we all witnessed first-hand how Medicaid protected the critical healthcare needs of so many.
Now more than ever, our hospitals and other healthcare institutions that accept Medicaid to care for our communities are in need of a lifeline. Medicaid now pays only 65% of the cost of the care provided by healthcare institutions. Because of this coverage gap, safety net hospitals struggle to stay open and the low reimbursement rate means that seniors and children have to wait for months to get care. It also means that specialized care and services are not available to Medicaid patients.
Many of our safety net hospitals have closed and many are on a watchlist. The COVID pandemic hit them even harder.
Our communities are also in the midst of a mental health crisis that was accentuated during the past three years of the pandemic. The systemic inequalities in access to mental health care have serious implications for the health and well-being of not just those who need mental health services, but their families, schools, and workplaces. Medicaid requires sufficient funding in order to provide desperately needed mental health services to our communities.
We are calling upon Governor Hochul and our elected representatives in New York State to recognize this crisis and commit to a 10% increase in the Medicaid rate. Only a critical investment of this kind can allow healthcare institutions to function without fear of closure and provide the most vulnerable among us with the healthcare that they need.
We urge New York State to end the sharp inequalities in our healthcare system and make a desperately needed investment in our Medicaid program NOW.
