Maloney Calls on Trump Administration to Keep Hands off Medicare, Expand Access to Care

Today, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) joined a coalition of concerned seniors and health care providers to discuss the looming threats impacting access to quality, affordable health care for Hudson Valley patients, seniors and families. Rep. Maloney called on the Trump Administration to support robust, long-term funding for Community Health Centers and demanded they abandon their recent budget proposals, which would slash nearly $1 trillion in federal funding for Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and Social Security Disability Insurance. 

Together, these issues will severely threaten access to quality, affordable health care for thousands of Hudson Valley seniors and families. 

“Our message is clear: the cuts in the president’s budget are a clear and present danger to the health care of Hudson Valley families, to our war against the opioid epidemic, and to taking care of our seniors. We have to defeat these cuts and get folks the care they need right here in the Hudson Valley,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. “I’m demanding he keeps his hands off Medicare and Medicaid and quit playing games with funding for critical health programs—like our community health centers.”

Rep. Maloney was joined by Linda Muller, President and CEO of Cornerstone Family Healthcare. Cornerstone Family Healthcare is a non-profit Community Health Center offering care services in communities across the Hudson Valley.

“The services that Cornerstone Family Healthcare provides are vital to the families of the Hudson Valley. We are deeply concerned about the disruptions we might have as a result of going over the funding cliff in May,” said Linda Muller, President & CEO of Cornerstone Family Healthcare. “Throughout our history, Community Health Centers  have always received bipartisan support and I’d like to thank Congressman Maloney and the rest of our Congressional Delegation for continuing to fight for the long-term reauthorization of the Community Health Center Fund.”

Community Health Centers are federally-supported and serve over 29 million Americans every year. After a short-term extension through the winter and spring of 2020, federal funding for Community Health Centers is set to expire on May 22, 2020. The Trump Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 budget also puts major constraints on funding reimbursements for many health care facilities that serve uninsured patients, including Community Health Centers across the country.

If enacted, the President’s FY2021 budget will:

• Slash $500 billion from Medicare
• Reduce Medicare payments to health care providers – limiting access to care for many New Yorkers
• Cut Social Security Disability Insurance benefits for New Yorkers living with a disability
• Gut Medicaid by $920 billion – threatening the health care of seniors, limiting funds to rural hospitals, and harming the recovery of Americans seeking opioid addiction treatment.
• Scale back funding for Affordable Care Act programs

Watch Rep. Maloney and Linda Muller’s press conference here.