News release
Morganton, North Carolina, Mom Goes to White House to Discuss Saving Medicaid
July 8, 2011
Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996
In an attempt to reduce the deficit, some Members of Congress have proposed drastic cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. This proposal has moms across the country, including Jessica Howells of Morganton, North Carolina, up in arms. She has a younger sister with Down’s Syndrome who relies on the program for health care coverage. Yesterday, she visited the White House to tell her story and discuss her concerns about proposed Medicaid cuts.
Medicaid has been an enormous boon to my sister and to my family,” said Howellls. “My sister is an active woman, but she’s developmentally disabled and has had some health problems, so she needs Medicaid to stay healthy and fairly independent. And she’s certainly not the only one. Not everyone can afford or even get private health insurance. And even then, it may not cover all their health care needs. Cutting Medicaid is cutting a program that many people and families need just to survive.
Howells is one of three members of MomsRising from around the country who met with White House officials about Medicaid yesterday. MomsRising is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization for moms and everyone who has a mom. With more than a million members nationwide, the group focuses on policies that help to ensure family economic security.
There's no question that we need to reduce the deficit, but cutting Medicaid and other programs that families rely on just to get by isn’t the way to do it,” said MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “We’re disgusted that some Members of Congress want to put programs that provide children and families in need with food, affordable child care and health care on the chopping block, while they give tax breaks to millionaires and huge corporations. Putting corporate interests above the interests of our families is no way to run a country. Unless you want to run it into the ground.
We applaud the President's rejection of plans to transform Medicaid into a dramatically underfunded block grant, putting at serious risk children and people with disabilities. And MomsRising stands with him to fight cuts to this incredibly important program for American families,” Rowe-Finkbeiner added.
MomsRising has collected stories from hundreds of families all over the country about their experiences with Medicaid. The group is delivering the stories in a book to Members of Congress and members of the Obama Administration. The stories are also available online. MomsRising members also have sent some 20,000 letters to their U.S. Senators and Representatives urging them not to cut Medicaid. This is the story Howells sent in:
My youngest sister has Down's Syndrome. She is a wonderful active person who is 46 years old, but she has had some health problems. She lives with our 83 year old mom in the home we grew up in… I am so thankful for Medicaid, which helps pay for many of my sister's medical expenses. I'm a student and work part-time… and we have two kids in college, so we are not able to help much financially. Medicaid has helped my sister live a healthier, more independent life. It's an important program that helps many, and I hope and pray that it continues.
Right now, one in three children is enrolled in Medicaid. A Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released in May of this year found that about half of all Americans (51 percent) say they or a friend or family member has received Medicaid assistance at some point in his or her life. Roughly the same proportion (53 percent) do not want to see any reductions in Medicaid spending.