Milwaukee: Citizen Action and Labor Council To Host Major Town Hall on Proposed Medicaid Cuts

Milwaukee: Directly-impacted residents, local legislators, lawmakers, and advocates will speak at a community town hall event to discuss massive federal Medicaid cuts now being debated in Congress. The town hall is sponsored by Citizen Action of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council.

This town hall event will draw people from across Milwaukee. It will include a brief presentation from a Citizen Action of Wisconsin health policy expert, comments from local elected officials, testimony from directly-affected community members, and an open forum for questions and further testimony.

Wisconsin’s Medicaid program covers 1.2 million people. It contains BadgerCare, a health insurance program for low-income residents; FamilyCare and IRIS, which fund nursing home care and home healthcare services for seniors and people with disabilities; Birth to 3, which provides comprehensive services for infants with developmental disabilities, and several other programs serving vulnerable populations who would otherwise be excluded from healthcare infrastructure. It is also the largest payer of mental health services, one of the primary funders for substance use disorder rehabilitation, and a budgetary lifeline for hospitals and physicians serving rural and low-income patients.

In February, both chambers of Congress passed a budget resolution calling $4.5 trillion in tax breaks over the next decade, including a $2 trillion reduction in government spending. The Energy & Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, was apportioned $880 billion of these cuts. Though Medicaid was not explicitly named in the resolution, the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan government agency, concludes that this goal is unattainable without severe cuts to Medicaid.

The federal government funds 60% of Wisconsin’s $11 billion Medicaid budget, which covers 1.2 million Wisconsinites. A cut of even 10% of federal support would require an additional $600 million of state money—a 15% increase in funding from general purpose revenue—or state cuts to Medicaid funding, which would remove people from the program or further reductions in payments to medical providers.

WHAT: Town Hall Meeting on Local and State Consequences of Proposed Medicaid Cuts

WHEN: Tuesday, May 13. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Event starts at 6:00 pm.

WHERE: Yatchak Hall, Milwaukee Area Labor Council, 633 S Hawley Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53214

Confirmed Speakers:

• Tim Faust, Health Care Action Coordinator, Citizen Action of Wisconsin

• Diannia Merritt (Directly impacted person)
• Keyvette Watkins (Directly impacted person)
• Amber Kostecki (Directly impacted person)
• Other speakers to be added

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.