Add your name:
Tell your representatives to protect Alaska Medicaid funding by signing this petition now!
To be delivered to Alaska’s Governor, State Senate, and State House.
Right now, as our leaders in Juneau debate on how to balance our state’s budget, it is imperative that they understand what is at stake when our Governor pushes for deep cuts in Medicaid.
Medicaid is an indispensable lifeline for thousands of Alaskans, especially children, low income seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income workers with coverage through the Medicaid Expansion.
Since Alaska adopted Medicaid expansion in 2015 it has brought nearly $1 billion in federal investment to the state while providing health coverage to over 49,000 Alaskans, in addition to the 165,000 traditional Medicaid recipients for a total of 215,000 Medicaid recipients. In that time, health care has been the only industry in Alaska that has consistently added jobs, moderating the impact of the ongoing recession brought on by low oil prices.
That’s why organizations and individuals from across the state have joined together to form Alaskans Together for Medicaid, a coalition working to ensure budget cuts aren’t used to take away health care from the most vulnerable. Join us in protecting access to health care for vulnerable children, families, and seniors by signing our petition today.
Sign the petition urging your representatives to protect Medicaid now! #AlaskansTogetherForMedicaid
Details on Where We Stand
Budget Cuts to Alaska’s Medicaid Program
It is impossible to cut Medicaid as deeply as Governor Dunleavy has proposed and not eliminate coverage for some Alaskans, and scale back benefits for others.
Alaskans relying on this indispensable lifeline will have nowhere to obtain healthcare. For example, Medicaid reductions have been linked to more women being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer because of the inability for sooner detection.
The low-income Alaskans in danger of losing coverage would almost assuredly become uninsured. This is because they work in industries that typically don’t offer health coverage to their workers.
Without Medicaid coverage, hospitals must provide even more uncompensated care with taxpayers and those with private insurance are left to foot the bill.
If doctors, dentists, and other health providers are not adequately reimbursed for the care that they provide, many may decide to stop seeing Medicaid patients altogether, putting more pressure on hospital emergency rooms.
When hospitals are not adequately reimbursed for the emergency and other treatments that they provide, they are forced to make tough decisions like not accepting patients with Medicaid coverage, laying off staff or closing their doors.
Medicaid Expansion
Since Alaska adopted Medicaid expansion in 2015 it has brought nearly $1 billion in federal investment to the state while providing health coverage to over 49,000 Alaskans.
In that time, health care has been the only industry in Alaska that has consistently added jobs, moderating the impact of the ongoing recession brought on by low oil prices.
While some may believe that Medicaid Expansion costs too much for the state, we know that not to be true - Alaska’s Medicaid expansion has resulted in state savings by offsetting state costs, including costs related to uncompensated emergency room care, behavioral health services, crime and the criminal justice system.
Among Alaska adults receiving Medicaid benefits, 76 percent live in working households. But the jobs they hold do not provide health insurance and sometimes do not provide a livable wage. They are the working poor. Medicaid is a helping hand to fill a coverage gap.
Work requirements, adjusting qualifying income level, or changes to the Medicaid expansion group are ways to shrink the program resulting in the loss of Alaskans’ health care.
Providing health care allows for prevention of illness; for example, treating hypertension so that someone does not have a stroke. Alaskan’s ability to access health care through Medicaid allows them to stay healthy enough to continue to work while decreasing the cost of their care through preventative measures.
Eligibility
Nearly half of all Alaska births are covered by Medicaid. The average cost of giving birth in Alaska is $10,000 to $14,000, so it’s not surprising that even working families may struggle with the bill, especially if they are on a high-deductible plan or encounter additional complications.
Half of all Alaska children are covered by Medicaid via Denali KidCare. Many of these young patients have working parents who aren’t able to afford other insurance or who need assistance with medical costs.
“Optional Services”
Governor Dunleavy has proposed eliminating “optional services” Alaska Medicaid currently covers. Yet this term is a misnomer; these services include prescription drug coverage, adult dental, Hospice care, in-home care, mental health services, eyeglasses, and many more that vulnerable Alaskans rely on to manage chronic health conditions and lead independent lives.
Eliminating or reducing these “optional” services would affect thousands of poor seniors and people with disabilities. By enabling people to meet their basic needs and live in a safe, accessible environment, the in-home services that Alaska provides can be the difference between staying at home, which the vast majority of people prefer, and having to move to a nursing home, an alternative that is two to three times more expensive.
More than two-thirds of U.S. states offer the same optional services included in Alaska’s Medicaid program. We understand that Alaska faces hard choices about utilization, services and reimbursement, but it is important to recognize that the current Medicaid plan is mainstream and what we must continue to keep our fellow Alaskans healthy.
Block Grants
Turning Medicaid into a block grant is not a new or innovative idea—it is just another way to cut Medicaid, ultimately meaning cuts in services to people who need health care the most.
It would also put the state on the hook for unanticipated health care costs—instead of sharing the risk of higher Medicaid spending with the federal government.
Turning Medicaid into a block grant would put the state and Alaska’s Medicaid enrollees at financial risk, and it would make it harder for the state to serve its residents’ health care needs.
Effective Administration
The Governor’s proposed Medicaid cuts, block grants, and the shifting of the expansion population to the private insurance market would drive Alaska deeper into its recession, cause tens of thousands of Alaskans to lose their health coverage, and place health care providers, doctors, community health centers, and hospitals in financial peril.
Alaska’s providers and key stakeholders recognize the need to implement budget conscious and innovative solutions to Alaska’s Medicaid program and are eager to work with the administration on developing those solutions. Alaska has collaborated previously to find solutions and was incredibly successful through the work of Senate bill 74. We can do that again through collaboration between stakeholders and the administration .
Sign the petition now!