The Rev Dr. Rick SchlosserDear Friends,
Last week the House Rayburn Office Building in Washington DC was overrun by low-income people trying to prevent Medicaid cuts. Taking health care from the poor, seizing the subsidies on the Affordable Care Act for those above poverty line but below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level are the work of sheer evil.
In Matthew 10, Jesus tells his disciples to go into towns and villages to bring the story, the news, but first heal the sick. Not with superhuman intervention, but with medicine. Basic health care was their first direction. Before all else, heal.
When Medicaid – Medi-Cal in California – was expanded to all adults as part of the Affordable Care Act, miracles really did happen. Our communities overall, grew healthier. I remember going to my pharmacy and having to stand in line for once. Why? People without health coverage finally had doctors and prescriptions to take care of what ailed them.
Prior to Medi-Cal expansion, three homeless men died in my alley. They had treatable issues but no path to help. We knew all three fairly well. It was heartbreaking injustice, and it is not the mark of a strong community that these things occurred. I know some in Congress think the homeless are losers, but all three had worked, contributed to society, and simply fell on hard times. And we let them die. We tried to help, but the costs were prohibitive. Without Medi-Cal there was little we could do. I still miss them a lot.
When the poor got healthy, we got healthier. What does it benefit a society to have desperately sick people among us, unable to be treated or cured? Homeless folks lined up during COVID to get vaccinated. Low-income people the same. We were not affected by sick people providing us services and leaving us with diseases. It’s not selfish to wish for a healthy society as well as for healthy people in it. It’s good sense.
Now the proposed House reconciliation act seeks to give MASSIVE tax cuts to the billionaires by cutting a few, low-cost programs. Medicaid is among them. So are the copay and deductible supports for those over poverty level but below 250% of the poverty line. What cruelty are we offering that takes affordable health care from struggling people to give the rich more tax breaks? We aren’t saving money. We are merely stealing health care.
Please call your House member, regardless of party, to say you do not want sick people to go untended in America. Knowing, cynically, lots of House members have zero compassion, it is perfectly logical to affirm the need for a healthy society so we, the taxpayers won’t be sick either. If they have no compassion, speak to their self-interest. It does not bode well to have dead and dying people in our midst. It is dangerous to have those with contagious diseases going untreated. However you frame it is fine. Let your heart speak to your Representative.
“Keep Medicaid! Keep ACA lower income support payments!”
Another issue for especially rural folks is the likely closing of smaller hospitals. No Medicaid? The state’s subsidy for “charity care” is not remotely enough to cover costs. We have to protect our health providers as well as our health recipients.
We can’t flood the Rayburn Office Building with our bodies regularly, but we CAN flood their phone lines in both the Capitol and the district offices. We can send written messages from their web sites. We can send FAXes as well. Speak up for the health of America by speaking out on the need to keep Medicaid. It is a critical issue we all can address.
To find your Representatives phone, Fax, and email please go here: Find Your Representative | house.gov Call often, get others to call. Do a visit if you can with others upholding these values. The very poor often have no voice. Let us be theirs.
Thank you.
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