NEWBURGH – Congressman Sean Maloney (D, NY-18) joined with Cornerstone Family Healthcare to urge the Trump administration not to make cuts of over $1 trillion to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability and the Affordable Care Act that have been proposed for the 2021 budget.
In Newburgh on Tuesday, Maloney said that part of these cuts will include funding for community health centers, like Cornerstone, putting the healthcare of local seniors, immigrants, veterans and low-income households at great risk. “Our message is clear, which is that the cuts in the President’s budget are a clear and present danger to the healthcare of Hudson Valley families, to our war against the opioid epidemic, to try and take of our seniors and we have to defeat these cuts so we can get the healthcare we need right here in the Hudson Valley,” said Maloney.
There are approximately 1,400 community health centers in the U.S. that collectively have more than 220,000 employees and serve many more times that in patients. Cornerstone specifically, serves around close to 50,000 patients.
Cornerstone President Linda Muller said these cuts have already made budget forecasting nearly impossible. They will also prevent them from being able to continue providing services for all of their current patients and will not allow them to continue to expand their services as they intend. Without funding, their business model becomes unsustainable.
“Dependable and predictable funding allows us to manage our complex business model, a model where no one is ever turned away from care, where we put people above profits,” said Muller. “It allows to expand our services and to increase access, which is our singular goal,” she said.
