U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, right, organized a town hall meeting for residents of the 10th Congressional District. McIver was on a panel with, from left, Cathy Chin, Dr. Jason Elliston and Cathy Tamburello.
WEST ORANGE — About 200 people, several using motorized wheelchairs and others walking aided by canes, turned out with questions about the future of Medicaid at a town hall meeting held by congressional Rep. LaMonica McIver.
“I know there’s been a lot of fear about Medicaid,” said McIver, a Democrat representing the 10th Congressional District, which includes West Orange, East Orange, Orange and Irvington among other towns. “We are here to help you fight back.”
McIver was joined for the event by Cathy Tamburello, a Medicaid advocate from Verona, Cathy Chin, executive director of the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities, and Dr. Jason Elliston, chief medical officer of the Metropolitan Family Health Network, which provides primary-care services to those who are unserved, uninsured, under-insured and homeless — regardless of their ability to pay.
The town hall came on the heels of a budget bill passed in the House of Representatives that would cut Medicaid funding by $880 billion over 10 years. This would mean about $2.5 billion in cuts to New Jersey, McIver said.
The House bill needs to be reconciled with a Senate budget bill but, if approved, the resulting cuts in spending in New Jersey would impact 200,000 people in the district, which has a population of about 765,000. Republicans have a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
About 25 percent of the people in the 10th Congressional District receive Medicaid, which is comprehensive health care for low income people.
Chin said Republicans are talking about work requirements to which she noted 64% of people receiving Medicaid already do work. She also said definitions of who is eligible for certain benefits could change to be more limiting and copays could be added for certain goods and services.
If the cuts go through, “our communities would be sicker, poorer and less diverse,” Chin said.
Ellston gave two examples of how the budget cuts would likely impact people. He noted that there have been three measles cases reported recently in New Jersey.
“If you take away Medicaid, they will have to go to a doctor to get the vaccine, they will have to pay for the visit and for the vaccine” thereby decreasing the chances they will go to get the vaccine in the first place, he said.
He also noted African American women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation.
“You have to get prenatal care but if you take away Medicaid who’s going to go to the doctor early,” Elliston said. “In my opinion, these cuts will cause the system to implode.”
Tamburello said she was there to put a face on the problem. She said she was the mother of a disabled 40 year old, who has a great life right now despite being non verbal and needing complete care, including with things like getting dressed. Her son has CHARGE syndrome, a rare, congenital condition characterized by a combination of birth defects, primarily affecting the eyes, heart, ears, and brain, often resulting in hearing, vision, and developmental challenges.
Because of his need for constant care, Michael lives in a home with four others.
“We don’t want to go back to institutional care. His health, his safety, will be profoundly affected,” Tamburello said. “I want people to see my family and know there are many like mine who will be profoundly affected by this if Medicaid gets cut.”
Some people in the audience had questions, unrelated to Medicaid, about the Trump administration.
McIver said the administration is not providing any information to Democrats.
“We’re not getting word from the administration. We find out what’s coming from the Twitter of the president or Elon Musk,” McIver said.
McIver encouraged people in the audience to apply pressure, to contact federal lawmakers, specifically the three Republican congressional representatives from New Jersey.
Chen suggested people call the representatives every day.
“Call, knock on doors, email,” Chen said. “Get their attention. You vote for them.”
McIver said she hopes that her Republican colleagues will realize what the president is doing is wrong.
“I’m hopeful every day I wake up that some of them will say ‘this is too much,’” McIver said, adding “we didn’t vote for Elon Musk.”
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