As representatives of the doctor group, we agree strongly with the editorial “Cuts to Medicaid would hurt WA’s children, poor” (March 3, Opinion):
Cuts of this magnitude will likely be devastating to Washington, limiting entry to look after our most susceptible sufferers, risking additional closures of practices and hospitals, and additional fueling the nightmarish monetary problem for our state.
Nonetheless, Gov. Bob Ferguson’s not too long ago proposed cuts to the Medicaid program additionally mustn’t go unnoticed. We’ve already seen a 30% lower within the variety of birthing hospitals and half the youngsters who rely on Medicaid in Washington face enormous limitations to getting well timed specialty remedy.
Each proposals, from D.C. and Olympia, take us within the flawed path. To stop additional fallout we should protect each state and federal funding and go the Medicaid Entry Program in Home Invoice 1392, which might put us on a strong course towards fixing a broken Medicaid program.
We perceive and sympathize with our governor’s purpose of decreasing bills to stability the state’s funds with out passing pointless taxes. However alerts to the federal authorities should be nuanced and now could be definitely not the time to be suggesting that open season on the Medicaid program is useful.
John Bramhall, M.D., Ph.D., President, Washington State Medical Affiliation
