Latest news with #U.S.HouseEnergyandCommerceCommittee
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Michigan moms call attention to threats to Medicaid and health care during annual ‘Mama's March'
Moms and their kids line up for a picture on the Michigan State Capitol Building steps after the annual "Mama's March" on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Waving back at her young daughters in the crowd, Lansing-area birth and postpartum doula Kendra Smith told attendees of the annual 'Mama's March' outside the Michigan State Capitol Wednesday that in order to promote healthy families, Medicaid and systems of support need to be preserved. There's a lot of concern from different advocacy and service groups at the moment as Republicans in Congress have floated proposals for cutting hundreds of billions of dollars to Medicaid which funds services and care for individuals who have low incomes or disabilities. Medicaid is not a line item easily crossed out without grave repercussions, Smith said. Medicaid often means the difference between a mother going to a postpartum check-up appointment to determine if she needs medical attention, or not going to that check-up appointment, Smith said, adding that those appointments provide access to prenatal vitamins, lactation support and birth in a hospital. 'For Black and brown moms who are already navigating higher risk and barriers, Medicaid often makes the difference between life and death, and that's not hyperbole. That's reality,' Smith said. National data reflects that Black women are more than twice as likely to die from pregancy-related causes than their white counterparts and Michigan state data reflects the same reality where Black mothers were nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white mothers. In order to comply with the spending plans and priorities of President Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, which regulates Medicaid amongst other governernment programs, is currently looking at how to save $880 billion, with Medicaid on the chopping block. For the last decade, typically more than 40% of births in Michigan have been funded, at least in-part, through Medicaid programs, according to reporting from the Michigan League for Public Policy. Medicaid provides care to those most vulnerable in Michigan, who might not have access to quality housing, nutrition or prenatal or postnatal educational resources, Smith said. Attendees listen to speakers at the annual "Mama's March" outside the Michigan Capitol Building on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Attendees listen to speakers at the annual "Mama's March" outside the Michigan Capitol Building on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Bridget Leonard, a Michigan-based nurse, speaks at the annual "Mama's March" outside the Michigan Capitol Building on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Moms and their kids line up for a picture on the Michigan State Capitol Building steps after the annual "Mama's March" on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols 'So when that funding is cut, we're not pulling access, we're pulling care from the very families that need it most. We're making it harder to close the gap and easier for preventable tragedies to continue,' Smith said. 'I'm asking you to stay loud, call your lawmakers, share your stories and fight for your families, because every parent deserves to be helped. Every child deserves to be born into a system that's ready to care for them, not cut them loose.' As the approximately 100 attendees headed off to seek out state lawmakers to urge preservation of Medicaid-funded services, Aisha Wells, deputy director of organizing for Mothering Justice, which sponsored the rally, told the Michigan Advance that she hopes state lawmakers in the predominately white Legislature remember their districts all have moms and people of color and residents who rely on Medicaid. As the mother of a teenage son and baby boy, Wells said she remembers not being listened to as a Black woman during her first pregnancy, dealing with doctors who shut down her concerns, but later determined her oldest son had obstructive congenital hydrocephalus which impacts the brain. And though mothers of color in the Michigan state Legislature like Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) and Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) are leading the charge in combating adverse health outcomes for moms of color, Wells said, all lawmakers should be fighting to preserve health care for families in their district. 'Everybody in your community is important. They matter. If one of us is being harmed, we're all being harmed,' Wells said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cuts to federal food assistance would devastate Ohioans, food banks that help supplement
Stock photoFederal proposals to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would hurt already struggling Ohioans, crush food banks in the state, diminish the state economy and result in job losses as well, advocates and researchers say. A budget resolution being considered by Congress would set funding targets for the next decade, and proposals have called for at least $880 billion in cuts from programs covered by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, including the nutrition program, SNAP. 'The principal entitlement programs under these committees are Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program … which indicates that these two programs are the principal targets for budget cutbacks,' researchers at The Commonwealth Fund said in a new report released Tuesday laying out the impacts of those cuts on state economies. A separate analysis released in February by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities stated that, of the at least $230 billion in federal cuts proposed through 2034 from programs in the jurisdiction of the House Agriculture Committee, reductions are 'expected to come largely or entirely from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and to be used to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest business owners and households.' 'Lawmakers cannot cut $230 billion – or anything close to that amount – from SNAP without slashing benefits, restricting eligibility, or some combination of both,' the center analysis stated. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The population to be impacted the most by these cuts is one that's already fighting to afford food and supplementing their SNAP benefits with visits to strained food banks. 'I can't imagine, in our current state environment, what the state would do if they had to take on any other burden for the SNAP program,' said Hope Lane-Gavin, director of nutrition policy and programs for the Ohio Association of Food Banks. County job and family services agencies are understaffed and underfunded, struggling for help from the state to stay afloat as it is, Lane-Gavin said. And that's to say nothing of the food banks that are trying to weather the onslaught of Ohioans who need help. 'We continue to break records in numbers of people served, in first-time people served, in amount of food served,' she told the Capital Journal. As of last month, the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services reported nearly 1.5 million SNAP recipients in Ohio, accounting for more than $258 million in regular funding allotments to the recipients. Broken down by federal congressional district, the 11th U.S. House District in Northeast Ohio has the largest amount of recipients in the state, with more than 20% of the district's population receiving assistance from SNAP. The 2nd U.S. House District in Southeast Ohio has the second most recipients, with nearly 16% of its population participating in the program. With the average SNAP benefit in Ohio sitting at $5.92 per person per day, Lane-Gavin said supplements from food banks are necessary to keep food on the table for many Ohioans, and a cut to funding for SNAP and other assistance would be devastating. 'We can't afford it; we don't have the food,' Lane-Gavin said. The cuts are just proposals at this point, and congressional leaders haven't laid out specific plans, but a House Budget Committee document gave options for cuts, including a dozen to the SNAP program, according to the Commonwealth Fund research. Those options included reducing SNAP benefits by eliminating an update to the Thrifty Food Plan, a USDA-developed food plan that estimates the cost of a healthy diet. There are several food plans, but the Thrifty Food Plan develops diet plans based on the lowest cost, representing a 'nutritious, practical, cost-effective diet prepared at home for a 'reference' family,' defined as a male and female with two children between the ages of 6 and 11. Other options included in the committee document included expanding a SNAP work requirement. A proposed budget reduction for SNAP represents a nearly 21% cut in benefits, the Commonwealth Fund found, with $22 billion lost in 2026 alone. 'State economies would be seriously harmed by SNAP cutbacks,' the fund stated. 'Their aggregate (gross domestic products) would be nearly $18 billion lower, and total economic output would be $30 billion lower.' Ohio-level numbers from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities forecast a nearly $8 billion cut from Ohio's SNAP program between 2026 and 2034, with more than 10,000 SNAP-authorized retailers at risk of losing revenue. The Commonwealth Fund anticipates about 143,000 jobs lost in the country, including 78,000 'direct job losses in food-related sectors such as agriculture, retail grocery and food processing.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
