Thousands of South County residents face loss of medical care
The visit comes as House Republicans plan to hold a vote on a budget proposal this week that would make deep cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for trillions of dollars of tax breaks, primarily for the ultrawealthy.
Magaziner 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,” said Magaziner. "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."
“In 2024, Wood River Health served 10,428 unique patients; of these, 3,088 are Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Alison L. Croke, President and CEO of Wood River Health. “Forty percent of our medical visits and 75-85% dental visits are Medicaid patients. 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.”
She continued: “To absorb a loss like that, it wouldn’t just impact Medicaid patients, it would impact all our patients. 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.”
“Medicaid funding will have significant negative impacts on the health of the over 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,” said Elena Nicolella, President & CEO of the Rhode Island Health Center Association.
The House is expected to vote this week on a budget resolution that calls to slash at least $880 billion from programs under the Energy & Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction—cuts that are expected to fall primarily on Medicaid. In 2023, Rhode Island received $2.17 billion in federal Medicaid funding, accounting for 41 percent of all federal funds the state receives.
Community health centers, like 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.
“I’ve been a family physician here for over 20 years, I grew up here, I work here, I live here,” said Lisa Menard-Manlove, MD, Family Medicine at Wood River Health. 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.”
“One of the unique things we have as a community health center is we work as a team,” she continued. “If I have a patient with severe depression or doesn’t have transportation, I can connect them to our integrated care department. 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.”
“Having immediate access to behavioral healthcare here onsite reduces stigma because patients don’t have to seek care somewhere else,” said Christine King, MA, Senior Director of Integrated Care at Wood River Health. “Many outside providers don’t take Medicaid as insurance for behavioral health. 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.”
“We screen all patients for social determinants of health
risks,” said Katherine Miller, Director of Care Coordination at Wood
River Health. “Patients come here their entire lives. When
they are having struggles at home that are affecting their health, they are
sharing that with their physicians. Our community health workers are able to
help these patients because we have some reimbursement from Medicaid.”
View or download photos from Rep. Magaziner’s visit here.
