When I ran to represent Missouri’s 74th House District, I promised to continue to fight for access to quality healthcare. As a lawyer who specializes in health law and holds a Masters in Pubic Health, I know how important quality, affordable healthcare is to supporting local communities and developing economies. And now, as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, I have listened to many Missourians who have shared their healthcare and insurance struggles with me. I have seen first-hand how health disparities affect the lives of Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens.
Congress and the Trump Administration are currently exacerbating these disparities. On October 1, funding for the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Program and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired after Congress failed to renew it.
Cuts to DSH and CHIP programs are particularly concerning for our state, where existing racial disparities in access to healthcare devastate African-American communities. The average life expectancy for African Americans in Saint Louis and Saint Louis County varies by as much as 18 years compared to the white population, with nearly half of all African-American kids under the age of 18 living in poverty. Cuts to DSH and CHIP programs will only worsen health outcomes for these kids and families, who already face a unique set of barriers to care.
Unless congressional action is taken, massive cuts will continue, putting our children at risk and threatening the survival of our hospitals.
Missouri will be hit particularly hard by cuts to the DSH Program, which supports hospitals that serve a high number of low-income patients. These hospitals provide life-saving care for our state’s neediest patients in underserved communities, where they are often the only primary provider of services.
If the cuts are implemented, Missouri will see an astounding 17.8 percent reduction in its DSH Program funding, depriving our hospitals of $92.6 million in 2018 alone. At this rate, Missouri hospitals will face $2.2 billion in cuts by 2025. Under these circumstances, hospitals will be forced to stop providing services, lay off nurses and caregivers, raise rates and costs, and in some cases, even close their doors, leaving thousands of our neighbors without access to routine and life-saving treatment.
CHIP has also been neglected in Congress amid the flurry of partisan political games. As its reauthorization remains uncertain, the future of healthcare coverage for 90,000 Missouri children hangs in the balance. While many leaders have spoken out on CHIP, DSH has astonishingly received little attention. These two vital programs must be renewed in tandem; if CHIP is funded, where will those low-income children, many of whom rely on DSH hospitals, go to receive care?
Health equity is a priority for me as a Missouri state representative. Supporting programs that keep our communities healthy is not a political issue – it’s a public health imperative. These vital programs have long enjoyed support on both sides of the aisle; in 2015, Missouri Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt both joined their colleagues in voting overwhelmingly in favor of reauthorizing CHIP and extending the DSH Program.
Failing to extend these programs is to allow the health of America’s most vulnerable to be compromised. Jobs will be lost, local economies will be harmed, and access to healthcare will become a challenge for many. I am counting on my fellow elected leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to fight for their constituents back home in Missouri and extend these programs that protect our hospitals and the patients they serve – Missourians deserve no less from the people they elected.
Cora Faith Walker (D-Ferguson) represents Missouri’s 74th House District in the Missouri House of Representatives.
