CONTACT:
Tammy Rosing | tammyrojas1977@gmail.com | 717-350-3224
Nijmie Zakkiyyah Dzurinko | nijmied@gmail.com | 215-667-0066
Memorial Day Budget Deadline Looms; Medicaid Recipients in Pennsylvania Refuse to Die
Put People First! PA is the only organization in Pennsylvania that is both politically independent from both major parties AND specifically dedicated to building the leadership, unity and power of people who are on or excluded from Medicaid.
WHO: Members of Put People First! PA’s Healthcare Rights Committees across 5 regions of Pennsylvania
WHAT: The Medicaid Cut-offs Organizing Drive engages thousands across the state to organize to protect and expand Medicaid through #MedicaidMondays story sharing, People’s Clinics, Medicaid Appeals actions, Call-in Days, meetings with Congress, participation in Town Halls, demanding the restoration of the Adult Dental Benefit and other actions.
WHEN: Ongoing
More than 3 million people in Pennsylvania get their healthcare through Medicaid. They live in all 67 counties – in rural, urban and suburban areas. According to the Department of Human Services, Medicaid covers 23% of all Pennsylvanians, 39% of children, 13% of seniors and 59% of nursing home residents. Anything that happens to Medicaid impacts families and communities of all racial and ethnic backgrounds and political affiliations.
Put People First! PA is a 13-year-old member-led and staff-free statewide organization. It is the only organization of its kind in the state led by people who are on or excluded from Medicaid, who know first hand that Medicaid cuts amount to policy murder. The organization has been fighting Medicaid cuts since the ending of pandemic protections under the Biden administration. Beginning on April 1, 2023, 25 million people across the country and more than 600,000 in Pennsylvania were purged from the Medicaid rolls in what the Biden administration called “the unwinding”. Nearly half of those cut off of Medicaid in Pennsylvania lost their healthcare over paperwork errors.
Now working class people are facing new and deepening threats to their healthcare under the Trump administration, with an additional 13.7 million people slated to lose Medicaid under the House proposal.
Put People First! PA plays a crucial role in bringing Medicaid recipients, low-income residents, those who have been cut or otherwise excluded from Medicaid and others directly affected by these looming cuts to the front lines of the policy battle where their expertise, lived experience, passion and dedication can make an impact. Last year, the organization achieved a 93% success rate in winning appeals for its members who were cut off of Medicaid.
“I was cut off of Medicaid three times during the Biden administration, so I know firsthand the impact that these cuts are going to have,” remarked Harrison Farina, a leader in Clearfield County.
“Medicaid is a life-line for working class families across the state like mine,” shared Tammy Rosing of Lancaster. “We need our state legislature to take proactive measures like restoring the Adult Dental Benefit in Medicaid.”
Put People First! PA is in touch with thousands of working class people across Pennsylvania most impacted by poverty, who struggle to access the care they need, who avoid going to the doctor, skip or ration medications, and are denied necessary treatments.
“We won’t be relegated to the sidelines of this fight because we’re poor and on Medicaid,” asserted Anita Knisely-Durham of Jenkintown. “We can speak for ourselves, think for ourselves and act for ourselves. Healthcare is a human right!”
- Media & Communications, Medicaid, Medicaid Cut Offs Organizing Drive, Press
- federal budget, media advisory, medicaid cut offs