Senator Catherine Cortez Masto toured a Reno health facility on Wednesday. She discussed how health centers will be impacted by the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts and threats to Medicaid.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto warned of the harm these cuts would cause Nevadans while visiting the Community Health Alliance's Wells Avenue Health Center.
“This administration says it cherishes Medicaid, but at the same time is supporting the House cuts of almost $900 billion to Medicaid,” she said.
Cortez Masto was joined by Oscar Delgado, CEO of Community Health Alliance.
“We can honestly tell you that access will be a lot harder. We won't be able to serve as many people. We'll have to freeze positions. We'll have to take a new look at different programs that we currently are able to see and I don't want to scare our team, but the reality is that if there's cutbacks, we'll have to make changes. It will impact every service line that we have,” Delgado said.
Ten percent of their budget comes from Medicaid, Delgado said. The cuts will affect their entire operation, he said. Community Health Alliance is the second largest primary provider in Washoe County, serving about 35,000 patients.
One in four Nevadans is insured by Medicaid. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, if this happens, more than 300,000 Nevadans would lose their health care insurance.
