Congress is considering major cuts to Medicaid, the program of health care coverage for low-income adults and children. A February House budget resolution directed the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion over the next decade from programs it oversees, and it can’t meet that target without deep cuts to Medicaid.
Oregon’s Medicaid program, known as the Oregon Health Plan (OHP), covers 34% of Oregon residents, including 57% of Oregon children.
“Cutting Medicaid not only hurts medically needy people in our state and across and across our country, it would also have a devastating impact on our state’s budget,” SEIU Local 503 President Johnny Earl told the crowd at a March 19 rally in Portland to protest the cuts.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 represents tens of thousands of home care and nursing home workers whose jobs are largely funded by Medicaid.
The potential cuts would represent 29% of state Medicaid spending per resident, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
U.S. Representative Maxine Dexter said all Oregonians depend on Medicaid for a strong workforce and economy.
“People don’t have resilience when they don’t have health care coverage,” Dexter said at the rally.
“What we do allows the rest of Oregon to work,” said SEIU Local 503 member Patty Falkenstein, who is paid by Medicaid to care for her daughter who has Down syndrome.
State and federal legislators urged workers and other Oregonians to put pressure on Oregon’s sole Republican U.S. Representative, Cliff Bentz. Bentz represents Oregon’s second congressional district, which has the highest Medicaid enrollment of all six districts.
