Bhardwaj Speaks on panel addressing Medicaid equity issues
Published February 22, 2024
By Dr. Kush K. Bhardwaj
Director of Racial Equity and Justice
On Wednesday February 21, 2024, Open Buffalo’s Director of Racial Equity and Justice, Dr. Kush K. Bhardwaj, joined a panel discussion hosted by 1199SEIU to discuss the impacts of the New York’s chronic underfunding of Medicaid.
At the Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library on Jefferson Ave in the heart of Buffalo’s East Side, Bhardwaj joined NAACP Buffalo Chapter President Rev. Mark Blue, Buffalo Common Councilmember Zeneta Everhart, and representatives of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
The panel discussed how the underfunding of Medicaid contributes to poor health outcomes largely in the Black and Latino communities, particularly affecting low-income seniors, expectant mothers, young children from low-income families, and people with disabilities. Some 43 percent of children in the city of Buffalo live in poverty, many of whom rely on Medicaid health insurance for their care.
In addition, the Community Forum explored how in Erie County nearly a third of residents rely on Medicaid for their health care. Even though Medicaid provides vital health insurance coverage to these New Yorkers, the state pays hospitals 30 percent less than the actual cost of care hospitals provide. Some 9 out of 10 nursing homes in upstate New York fall below the statewide average reimbursement rate. The forum concluded with identifying the next concrete steps to organizing and mobilizing to effect change needed in our communities.