Medicaid provides vital health insurance for low-income children and parents, seniors in nursing homes and people with disabilities. The program is crucial to Louisiana, where it covers 1 in 3 residents. 

There’s now an effort in Congress to cut funding for Medicaid and other safety-net programs to help pay for massive tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and large, profitable corporations. This would result in about 15 million people losing health insurance across the nation.

The consequences of these cuts would ripple throughout Louisiana. Children will be uninsured. People fighting cancer will lose access to life-saving care. Families will not be able to afford nursing home care for their aging relatives. 

These cuts would be especially difficult for small towns and rural communities in Louisiana, where more residents rely on Medicaid for their health insurance. The loss of federal dollars will devastate rural health systems, where hospitals are already operating on thin margins and people have limited access to care.

Health insurance is unaffordable and health care costs are out of reach for too many families. Medicaid cuts will lead to more medical debt, less financial security, and increased health care costs for everyone. We should be making access to affordable health care easier for families and children, not taking away coverage.