Improving healthcare starts with Medicaid
Published 10:28 pm Tuesday, September 15, 2015
By Tim Melson
Melson of Florence represents District 6 in the Alabama Senate and is a retired anesthesiologist.
I am deeply concerned about the future of healthcare in this state as a result of the ripple effects of proposed cuts to Alabama Medicaid.
If we want to improve and grow as a state and have job opportunities for our citizens, we cannot afford to let this happen.
Healthcare is a multi-billion dollar business in this state, employing hundreds of thousands of Alabamians. And I am among the many that believe Medicaid helps secure the foundation of our state healthcare ecosystem.
While Gov. Bentley’s original 2016 budget included a 20 percent increase for Medicaid funding, the one passed in the regular session and vetoed by the governor cut Medicaid funding by roughly 5 percent. During the special session cuts of anywhere from 5 to 25 percent were proposed.
Worse, the actual cuts would be much greater, considering that for every dollar in state funding that is cut we lose roughly $3 in federal matching funds. A $156 million cut then really means $600 million less injected into our healthcare system.
Why does this potential loss matter?
Because many of Alabama’s rural hospitals, pediatrician offices, and other healthcare professionals are already teetering on the edge of closure.
In 1980, 85 percent of hospitals in rural counties delivered babies (over half of all deliveries are paid for by Medicaid). Now only 17 rural counties have a hospital with delivery services or an OB/GYN. Because over 1 million people are covered by Alabama Medicaid right now, and more than half of those are children. That represents nearly 21 percent of the state’s population.
Because Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, one of the finest medical facilities of its kind in the country, recently issued a statement revealing that over 60 percent of its patients are covered by Alabama Medicaid.
If you cut funding for those children, what is the likelihood that the hospital can continue to serve non-Medicaid patients? Pretty slim.
Because at the other end of the age spectrum, Medicaid also forms the backbone of the nursing home system in this state.
If funding is lost there, everyone in a nursing home, not just Medicaid patients, will be harmed. Two out of every three residents are there because of the coverage from Alabama Medicaid.
In other words, cutting Medicaid means cuts to every medical practice and every healthcare facility.
That means a lack of access to quality care for all citizens, not just those covered by Medicaid.
Medicaid is at a turning point in Alabama. We can choose to reform and improve the system or continue harsh cuts that will perpetuate the degradation of healthcare across the state.