The Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care was established more than 20 years ago to preserve access to the best quality healthcare. This community, now over two million strong, has fought for patient access before – and we are ready to do so again.
The Washington Post editorial board recently published an opinion piece calling for the federal government to cut Medicare funding in order to achieve “fiscal responsibility.”
Here’s what their piece is missing: the voices of 65 million people who currently rely on Medicare, and everything they would lose should the cuts that The Washington Post editorial board propose go through.
Americans depend on Medicare for access to critical and preventative health are services, especially in rural and other underserved communities. Since 2020 alone, more than three million seniors have enrolled in Medicare. More than one-third of all Medicare patients today live with four or more chronic conditions and more than seven million live with a disability.
Beyond this, the COVID-19 pandemic showed more than ever that now is not the time to weaken our healthcare system — but to strengthen it. Over six million resilient healthcare workers showed up each day to care for our nation’s sick as hospitalizations skyrocketed during the pandemic. They’ve often been met with workforce shortages and a lack of resources for new clinicians’ training to lessen that burden. Hospitals and health systems have been hit with rising expenses for drugs, supplies and labor, all amid near record inflation rates.
In light of these issues, the editorial board’s “solutions” — adopting so-called site-neutral payment policies, decreasing federal payments to teaching hospitals, and reducing coverage of bad debt by 25%, which would put even more financial pressures on hospitals — simply do not make sense. These actions are particularly troubling in light of the government’s own data that show that Medicare already chronically underpays providers caring for patients.
Medicare and Medicaid were established to protect the most vulnerable Americans. Together, let’s ensure that Congress doesn’t forget our voice.
Sign your name here to take action against Medicare cuts TODAY!