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Defend SNAP and Medicaid

The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the Big Brutal Bill this week and—like its House counterpart—it’s devastating for nutrition and health care programs for vulnerable communities.

The Senate proposal includes the largest cut to SNAP in history, as part of a budget package that guts basic needs programs.

The bill also contains the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, and will result in 16 million people losing their health insurance. A recent analysis of the House-passed bill found that because of the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and reduced staffing requirements at nursing homes, 51,000 people will die each year.

Additionally, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as many as 330 rural hospitals nationwide could close or reduce services as a result of this bill. And, new research shows that cuts to Medicaid along with SNAP will reduce jobs by 1.2 million nationwide, equivalent to about a 0.8% increase in the unemployment rate.

Cutting the heart out of basic needs programs including SNAP and Medicaid doesn’t save states or the federal government money—it denies care and creates bigger problems down the road, shifting the burden to service providers, local governments, and taxpayers. This will lead to higher costs and more strain on budgets—household and state budgets alike. And it will cost lives.

It’s not too late to change course. Now more than ever, it’s critical that the Senate act to protect health care, nutrition, and other essential services that help millions of families meet their basic needs. We should strengthen support for these programs—not take them away

Click here to send a message to Congress telling them to reject draconian cuts and to strengthen human needs programs.

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Child Lead Poisoning: Preventable Harm

May 3, 2016 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

An archive of this webinar is available here.

Child Lead Poisoning: Preventable Harm

A Webinar co-sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs, First Focus, Children’s Leadership Council, Partnership for America’s Children, MomsRising, and the National Head Start Association

Tuesday, May 3, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET

The lead poisoning of children (and adults) in Flint, Michigan has focused the nation’s attention on the terrible human cost of allowing contamination of our water supply. We have since learned that lead in water affects many communities nationwide, and that lead from paint in older buildings is an even more prevalent source of child poisoning. We have known about this for a long time, and steps to reduce the lead around us in previous decades have dramatically reduced the number of children suffering from lead poisoning. But reduced investments by local, state, and federal governments have slowed our progress and brought preventable harm to more than half a million U.S. children.

This webinar will provide expert evidence about the consequences of lead poisoning in children, examples of work being done in Flint and Philadelphia to stop this scourge, and timely information about Congressional proposals to fund the solutions.

Speakers include:

Dr. Jennifer A. Lowry, MD, a pediatrician and national expert on medical toxicology, including lead poisoning, practicing at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO. She directs the Mid-America Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PESHU) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 and serves as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Environmental Health.

Colleen McCauley, Health Policy Director at Public Citizens for Children and Youth in Pennsylvania. She works on child health policies, with special emphasis on low-income and undocumented children in the metro Philadelphia area. Prior to joining PCCY in 2001, Colleen was a nurse and former Assistant Director of the Abbottsford Community Health Center in Philadelphia.

Moderator:

Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs.

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Date:
May 3, 2016
Time:
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Event Category: