Moms Go to White House to Discuss Saving Medicaid
NEWS RELEASE
July 8, 2011
CONTACT: Gretchen Wright or Molly Tomlinson, 202/371-1999
Moms Go to White House to Discuss Saving Medicaid
Washington, D.C. – Three moms from around the country yesterday morning met with White House officials to talk about why Congress’s proposed drastic cuts to Medicaid would hurt families who rely on the program. The women – from Utah, Maryland and North Carolina – shared their stories about how the program has helped them or their families get life-saving health care coverage and cover medical expenses, and discussed their concerns about proposed Medicare cuts.
The women are members of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization for moms and everyone who has a mom. With more than a million members nationwide, the group focuses on policies that help to ensure family economic security.
MomsRising has collected stories from hundreds of families all over the country about their experiences with Medicaid. The group is delivering the stories in a book to Members of Congress and members of the Obama Administration. The stories are also available online at http://www.momsrising.org/member_stories/topic/find-out-how-medicaid-works-for-families-and-share-your-own-medicaid-experience. MomsRising members also have sent some 20,000 letters to their U.S. Senators and Representatives urging them not to cut Medicaid.
“There’s no question that we need to reduce the deficit, but cutting Medicaid and other programs that families rely on just to get by isn’t the way to do it,” said MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “We’re disgusted that some Members of Congress want to put programs that provide children and families in need with food, affordable child care and health care on the chopping block, while they give tax breaks to millionaires and huge corporations. Putting corporate interests above the interests of our children is no way to run a country. Unless you want to run it into the ground.”
“We applaud the President's rejection of plans to transform Medicaid into a dramatically underfunded block grant, putting at serious risk children and people with disabilities. And MomsRising stands with him to fight cuts to this incredibly important program for American families,” Rowe-Finkbeiner added.
Right now, one in three children is enrolled in Medicaid. A Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released in May of this year found that about half of all Americans (51 percent) say they or a friend or family member has received Medicaid assistance at some point in his or her life. Roughly the same proportion (53 percent) do not want to see any reductions in Medicaid spending.
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MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable child care, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many mothers. MomsRising also advocates for health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006 and now celebrating its fifth anniversary, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2011, for the second year in a row, Forbes.com named MomsRising's web site as one of the Top 100 Websites For Women.
