On the 61st Anniversary of Medicaid being signed into law , Alaska leaders and healthcare providers came together to discuss the devastating impacts of Dan Sullivan’s Medicaid cuts on Alaska patients, hospitals, caregivers, and providers.
“When Johnson signed this bill he said that we should never be indifferent to despair. Right now in Alaska, 10,000 more of our poorest citizens who have gotten kicked off the Medicaid rolls are experiencing that,” said Alaska Democratic Party Chair Eric Croft. “Dan Sullivan was the key vote to knock out a major peg of this system.”
“I did make three trips to DC three separate times to meet with Dan Sullivan, and each time I was turned away,” said Betty Redd Mendez, a SEIU 775 Member who is a caregiver for her brother, son, and father. “Medicaid cuts are detrimental everywhere in Alaska, we don’t have extra resources. The overhaul here in Alaska’s healthcare, for our children and seniors and veterans is hurting healthcare professionals who care for our loved ones like I do. Even if you aren’t on Medicaid, those cuts raise health care costs for all of us.”
“A veteran of the military, most of them have care through the V.A., but their spouses and children do not. When we talk about reduction in Medicaid coverage in Alaska, we are talking about some veterans’ families, about 3.4 million children of veterans who are enrolled in Medicaid,” said Alaska State Representative Andrew Gray, a veteran and healthcare provider. “Medicaid in Alaska is a lifesaver, and on the 61st anniversary of the creation of Medicaid, Senator Sullivan needs to answer for the toxic changes to Medicaid that he supported when he cast his deciding vote.”
“I’ve been a nurse for over 25 plus years. Hundreds of thousands of people here in our state rely on Medicaid to take care of them,” said Shannon Davenport, nurse and President of the Alaska Nurses Association.” I don’t think that Senator Sullivan understands what it’s like to live on a daily basis here in Alaska, when we’re paying $10 a gallon for gas, we’re paying $16 in the rural areas for milk. My patients come to me and they’re asking me, ‘Do I eat? Do I pay my bills? Do I pay my rent? Do I keep a roof over my kids head? Or do I have health insurance?’”
Alaskans’ premium costs are increasing by 125% –one of the steepest increases in premium spikes in the country – two Alaska clinics have already closed, five additional hospitals are at risk of closure, and nearly 10,000 fewer Alaskans are on Medicaid following Sullivan’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) being signed into law.
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