LINCOLN – On Monday, chants for the Medicaid program rang out at the Nebraska State Capitol.
Health care providers expressed their concerns about potential Medicaid cuts at the federal level.
If Congress approves them, they claim the cuts will not only harm Medicaid recipients, but will also cause significant disruptions in communities across the state.
“Medicaid is under threat, and that means Nebraska patients are under threat,” stated Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association.
Advocates said the program is critical for Nebraska’s most vulnerable residents, including those in nursing homes.
“Our nursing homes in Nebraska are already struggling to stay alive,” stated Kierstin Reed, CEO of Leading Age Nebraska. “A lot of them are sort of living on the edge. So, if Medicaid, which currently funds 60% of nursing home residents, is eliminated, the likelihood of nursing home closures will increase significantly over the next three to five years.”
Caregivers and health care providers say there are already too few Medicaid providers, and this will only make matters worse.
“This saddens me, so they do not deserve it.” said Presley Marth, who has been a caregiver for 10 years. “I feel like it is crazy to think that there is going to be more cuts because it feels like there is already been cuts from what I seen.”
But William Tenteler, who receives Medicaid, believes the cuts are necessary.
“They are not set in stone; it might happen, it might not,” he joked. “And it is sad because if the previous administration did what they were supposed to do, we would not be in the situation we are in now.”
However, critics of the proposed cuts argued that access to care should not be politicized.
“What they are doing is going to hurt not only those who are on Medicaid programs, but it is going to affect the United States overall,” Reed told the crowd.
According to the Nebraska Rural Health Association, people in rural areas already have difficulty accessing health care, and without Medicaid, it becomes more expensive and limited.