“Across the state, 51% of Medicaid beneficiaries receive their services through health centers like Cherry Health. Currently at Cherry Health, about 58% of our patients are Medicaid beneficiaries.”
Cherry Health President and CEO Tasha Blackmon says if Medicaid funding is cut in the federal budget, it would be devastating.
“We believe that if these cuts were to go through that we might have to consolidate by 6,000 patients or so. That could be up to 20,000 visits that we’re not able to provide.”
Democratic Congresswoman Hillary Scholten’s visit comes ahead of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s hearing on cutting $880 billion from President Trump’s federal budget. Democrats and some Republicans say those cuts are likely impossible without cutting Medicaid.
Blackmon says Cherry Health has already lost 16 staff members through AmeriCorps funding cuts. If Medicaid cuts are made, they would lose another 30 staff members, or about 10% of their workforce.
“It’s challenging today to replace the workforce in an unstable environment where there is just so much uncertainty, I think will be even more difficult going forward if these cuts were to take hold.”
Cherry Health operates over 20 facilities across six Michigan counties.
