LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law by former president Joe Biden on March 11, 2021. Over 70 national and state organizations, including VOCAL-KY, signed a letter to Congress to sound the alarm on federal budget cuts on the fourth anniversary of the act. The ARPA increased funding for Medicaid that expanded services and programs.
Medicaid is an area of government spending that advocates are concerned may face cuts because of a budget resolution that passed the House a few weeks ago.
Millions of low-income and disabled Americans rely on the program for health insurance coverage.
“Whenever I was homeless and using, I had to seek medical treatment multiple times for drug-related issues and if it wasn’t for Medicaid, I wouldn’t have been able to seek that treatment,” said Brittany Morris, VOCAL-KY’s hospitality and operations associate. She was formerly enrolled in Medicaid.
When Morris found out she was pregnant, she got treated for substance use disorder.
“A few days had passed, and it was too hard to go without anything, so I went and got on Subutex, which is a form of Suboxone, and I was on that treatment through my whole pregnancy,” Morris said. “And if it wasn’t for Medicaid, I wouldn’t have been able to afford that.”
It’s stories like Morris’ that have led VOCAL-KY, along with dozens of other national and state organizations, to sign on to a letter to Congress on the anniversary of the ARPA.
In a statement on a press release, VOCAL-KY’s director, Shameka Parrish-Wright said: “Louisville used ARPA funds for homelessness, overdose and mental health services. Some of our frontline programs that provide shelter to people on the streets have already had to change their entire programs due to ARPA funds running out.”
The letter demands Congress reject the budget resolution, which calls for trillions of dollars in tax and spending cuts. Advocates worry that this could impact Medicaid.
“People will die,” Morris said. “They won’t have access to life-saving medical treatment because they’ll get turned away for not having health insurance.”
Even though Medicaid is not named in the budget resolution and republicans claim there won’t be cuts to the program, a March 5 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office says otherwise.
The spending bill would require the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to find at least $880 billion in cuts over the next decade. According to the CBO’s analysis, without including Medicare, Medicaid accounts for 93% of the committee’s spending, which means it could not hit the $880 billion goal without cuts to Medicaid.
