NEWS RELEASE 4/20/16 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Christy Cain at (334) 396-6314 | christy@alabamachildrenfirst.com
Jim Carnes at (334) 832-9060 | jim@alarise.org
#IamMedicaid campaign seeks to show human faces of Alabama’s Medicaid debate
Alabama’s looming Medicaid cuts would harm hundreds of thousands of people across the state – mostly children, seniors, and people with disabilities. The new #IamMedicaid campaign is a grassroots effort to remind lawmakers and the public of the real people with real lives affected by the state’s ongoing Medicaid funding debate.
“Alabama’s Medicaid debate is about more than numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about people,” Alabama Arise state coordinator Kimble Forrister said. “Medicaid cuts would reduce health care access and make life harder for many of the most vulnerable Alabamians: children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Their voices must be heard in this debate, and we’re excited about this new effort to change the conversation around Medicaid.”
The 2017 General Fund budget leaves Medicaid $85 million short of the funding that the agency says is needed to avoid cuts to services like outpatient dialysis and adult eyeglasses. Without new revenue to maintain current service levels, Medicaid also will make deep cuts in its payments to doctors and other providers. Those cuts could result in the closures of many hospitals and clinics, reducing health care access for families across the state.
“Medicaid coverage is essential to protect the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of children in Alabama,” Alabama Children First executive director Christy Cain said. “So many times, we get caught up in the numbers, and we forget those numbers represent real people with real lives and that they deal with real challenges.”
Details about the #IamMedicaid campaign, along with personal stories and pictures, are available at www.IamMedicaid.com, as well as on the initiative’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
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Alabama Arise is a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of 150 congregations and organizations dedicated to improving the lives of low-income Alabamians. Alabama Children First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the lives of Alabama’s children and families by shaping public policy.