HOPKINTON — Care providers at Wood River Health in Hopkinton told U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner that deep cuts proposed to Medicaid by Republicans would lead to layoffs, reductions in services for patients and more locally.
All of which, they said, would negatively affect patient care.
“Wood River Health is a real gem in Rhode Island,” Magaziner, D-2nd District, told a gathering of the health center’s officials after taking a short tour of the facility Monday morning. “They do a phenomenal job, and I’ve heard nothing but good things from Rhode Islanders in the area about the quality of care you provide.”
House Republicans plan to hold a vote on a budget proposal this week that would make deep cuts, on the order of as much as $880 billion, to Medicaid in order to pay for trillions of dollars of tax breaks, primarily for the ultra-wealthy, Magaziner said.
He emphasized how these cuts would hurt community health centers, which provide essential care to thousands of Rhode Islanders.
“House Republicans’ budget plan would gut Medicaid, putting community health centers like Wood River Health — and the Rhode Islanders who rely on them — at risk,” he said. “These centers provide essential medical care to one in five Rhode Islanders. I’m fighting against these reckless cuts, designed to fund tax breaks for billionaires, because every family deserves access to quality, affordable health care.”
Eight community health centers, including Wood River Health, serve more than 200,000 Rhode Islanders, with a majority their funding coming from Medicaid.
Under House Republicans’ proposed budget plans, more than 81,000 Rhode Islanders on Medicaid could lose access to care, as would countless other Rhode Islanders who utilize community health centers regardless of the type of health insurance they may have. It would cost the state about $200 million annually, Magaziner said.
There are still several chances in the coming weeks to try to take the cuts off the table, he said, chiefly by swaying some Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives — where the GOP has a thin majority — that the reductions would hurt their own districts, too.
“We only need to peel away a couple of Republicans, some of whom have 30, 40% of their constituents on Medicaid. We’ll have a few different opportunities to do it,” he said.
Wood River Health’s President and CEO, Alison L. Croke, told Magaziner the center, which also has a Westerly location, served 10,428 unique patients in 2024, and that of those, 3,088 are Medicaid beneficiaries.
“Forty percent of our medical visits and 75 to 85% of dental visits are Medicaid patients,” she said. “Of these, we have 1,211 patients eligible through the Medicaid Expansion provision. If those patients choose not to seek care or become sliding fee scale patients, that’s a conservative loss to our organization of about $368,000. On a $12.5 million operating budget, that’s pretty significant.”
To absorb a loss like that, it wouldn’t just impact Medicaid patients, but all patients, Croke said.
“We would have no choice but to look at current personnel levels and reduce services and our locations. This would be financially devastating for our community health center and our patients,” she said.
Elena Nicolella, president of the Rhode Island Health Center Association, said cuts to Medicaid funding will have significant negative impacts on the health of the more than 210,000 Rhode Islanders who depend on community health centers, like Wood River Health, for their care.
“We appreciate Congressman Magaziner’s keen awareness of the risk of these cuts,” she said.
In 2023, Rhode Island received $2.17 billion in federal Medicaid funding, accounting for 41 percent of all federal funds the state receives.
“I’ve been a family physician here for over 20 years, I grew up here, I work here, I live here,” Wood River Health family medicine physician Lisa Menard-Manlove told Magaziner. “I have a really good pulse on the community, and there is such a need. As a community health center, we are trying to prevent diseases and treat chronic diseases before they become problematic. We know that primary care reduces the cost of our health care and keeps people out of the emergency room.”
Menard-Manlove said the staff at Wood River works as a team.
“If I have a patient with severe depression or doesn’t have transportation, I can connect them to our integrated care department,” she said. “We keep patients coming to their appointments because if they can’t, they are going to end up in an emergency room. We can’t do that without Medicaid, and we can’t do that without our entire team. It would be costlier for the system if we are not making those early interventions.”
Christine King, the senior director of integrated care, explained that having immediate access to behavioral health care on-site reduces stigma, because patients don’t have to seek care somewhere else.
“Many outside providers don’t take Medicaid as insurance for behavioral health, she said. “Our providers work as teams to help support our patients’ long-term health. We know a trusting relationship and positive rapport helps people’s journey and their health outcomes.”
Magaziner was on his way from Wood River Health to catch a flight down to Washington, where voting on the budget items could begin today. In addition to the threat of Medicaid cuts, the federal government is facing a shutdown in mid-March that could also have ramifications for Wood River Health. The health center is trying to secure federal grant funds to help pay for a renovation to its Hopkinton facility, including an expansion and upgrade of its check-in and waiting areas and new exam room, Croke said.
“I’m hopeful though, especially if all across the country we elevate what the impact of these Medicaid cuts will be that we can stop it,” Magaziner said. “I really do think we can.”
Written by Ryan Blessing, Sun Staff Writer
Photos by Karen Stellmaker, Special to the Sun
Read the original story here.
