Justin didn't expect him to live past 25. In just nine months, he had already received four emergency medical treatment for diabetes.
A new family medicine doctor has changed it all. In regular primary care, Justin took medication and changed his diet and exercise habits. Now he no longer needs to inject insulin daily – or fears cutting. Justin is now approaching 30 at the best health he has experienced in years.
This may not have happened without his Medicaid coverage.
Currently, patients like Medicaid and Justin who relies on it are in the crosshairs. That's because Republicans are looking for it Reductions worth $880 billion Over the next decade to help fund tax cuts for the wealthy. meanwhile Republicans are not united yet Behind the approach, it appears they are set to cut.
As a doctor and CEO of hospitals and healthcare groups who have worked in healthcare for over 30 years, I know that cutting Medicaid will not make healthcare more accessible, affordable and efficient for everyone. In fact, it does the opposite. It hurts urban and rural communities, the wealthy and poor.
why? Because we are all connected to our health care system. When parts of the system fight or fail, the burden moves across community boundaries and other parts of the system.
Currently Medicaid Cover Over 80 million people, Or about 21% of the population, including pregnant women, people with disabilities and many people in long-term care facilities. Many Americans, including many Republican voters, are receiving the care paid by this public insurance plan, which is an important foundation for maintaining health, saving lives and preventing medical debt. Medicaid improves healthy birth opportunities. Provides better access to primary care. This is the most effective way to prevent illness and reduce costs.
Medicaid reductions put additional pressure on stressed and overcrowded providers. Access to doctors and services, already restricted in rural and poor urban communities, is even worse. And I definitely know one thing. If the federal government cuts care, people won't stop getting sick.
Forced access reductions through budget cuts will lead to patients delaying care and ultimately reaching emergency departments with advanced disease. You may see temporary savings in a row of balance sheets, but it becomes an illusion as the costs of emergency and inpatient care increase.
Almost Half of the hospital In our country, we are at a loss. These hospitals are already cutting services – closing their workforce and delivery departments and eliminating staffing for patient beds. Failure to these budget cuts could result in the entire facility being closed. It is often useful for the most vulnerable.
This is when patients seek care outside the community and experience impacts in nearby hospitals as they exacerbate crowding and delays at those facilities. We experienced this in South LA when we were at King Drew Medical Center. Closed in 2007. Facilities 10 to 20 miles away, including Cedars Sinai in Beverly Hills and UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, were forced to absorb patients who still needed care.
Healthcare may not be well organized, but they are interconnected. The pressure in one part of the system applies pressure to another part. While some leaders may not be concerned about worsening care in poor communities, as they cut through the system, personal insured components will also be affected. If provider Medicaid patients pay less, individual insured patients will pay more.
America spends more on health care than other wealthy countries, achieving worse outcomes. However, the answer to high health costs is not to reduce access to our most vulnerable communities. a Healthcare System Building on the foundations of public health, prevention and primary care, health outcomes improve and costly. Adjust payments with patient care rather than corporate profits – the US spends $80.4 billion Every year there is Medicaid Five Fortune 500 Companies account for half of program enrollment – reduce waste while returning health dividends to the community.
Justin is an example of what we should do. It allows patients to access primary care and maintain good health. Reducing services for some members of our society places a cost on all of us who need and use healthcare. This reduces the efficiency of healthcare delivery and makes it even more expensive. This is the opposite of what both leaders want to achieve.
Elaine Batchlor is a physician with over 30 years of experience in American healthcare and is currently CEO of MLK Community Healthcare.
