To the editor,
As a family physician, I am deeply concerned about potential changes to Medicaid funding and coverage. Medicaid is a lifeline to affordable, accessible health care for millions of low-income individuals and families, including many of my patients.
I work at the Menominee Tribal Clinic, an IHS supported but independently-run Native-owned clinic by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. Most of our patients qualify for and have Medicaid (BadgerCare or Forward Health) insurance for their health care needs, including working families, pregnant women and most of our pediatric population. If the Medicaid budget is slashed, my patients — and my entire clinic — will be devastatingly affected.
Regarding health outcomes, Native patients are already marginalized. The Menominee Reservation and County is our state’s poorest with the worst state health outcomes (number 72 of 72 counties) for the past two decades. Nationally, a Native person’s life expectancy is nearly one decade less than a white person’s. In Wisconsin, Native patients’ maternal morbidity and mortality is two and a half times higher than a white pregnant patient’s. As a member of Wisconsin’s Maternal Mortality Review Team, we discuss these disparities at nearly every meeting. Unfortunately, those disparities will only widen with removing their access to health care.
Again, cutting Medicaid is not a viable option. We are talking about people’s health and literally their lives. Cuts would hurt Wisconsinites in every corner of our state — urban and rural, Republican and Democrat, young and old. Local hospitals could close. Seniors could be evicted from nursing homes. Children with disabilities could be put on wait lists for lifesaving services.
Please reach out to your representatives and urge them to protect Medicaid funding.
Heather Nennig, MD, Shawano
