Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist hosted a roundtable at Grand Rapids’ Corewell Health Blodgett addressing concerns about potential cuts to Medicaid. He was joined by Grand Rapids Democratic U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten and other community stakeholders.
“Just last week, the House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the budget resolution which contains $880 million in cuts to the energy and commerce budget. You cannot make those kind of cuts without cutting Medicaid.”
While Republicans have said there are no plans of making cuts to Medicaid, Gilchrist stated that any reduction will complicate care, especially for vulnerable seniors and veterans.
“It’s all hands on deck. Philanthropy is going to have to step up in this interim if this is indeed a reality that we face, so I’m convening all of those partners in communities across Michigan to have that kind of brainstorm about what we can do and what we can do now, but ultimately the best solution is to not have these cuts come in the first place. That is the answer to the question.”
Medicaid provides health coverage to more than 2.3 million Michigan residents.
