UTICA — Common Councilman Jack LoMedico, along with members of a healthcare workers union, spoke out against proposed Medicaid cuts required to balance New York’s $6 billion budget shortfall at Utica City Hall on Thursday.

LoMedico said his wife collects Medicaid due to a debilitating condition requiring around-the-clock care.

“Without Medicaid — the great nurses and aides that have taken care of her over the years — I don’t know what I would have done,” he said.

Medicaid provides health coverage for low-income adults, children, people with disabilities, the elderly and pregnant women. As of November 2019, there were 64.5 million Americans covered by Medicaid.

Baby boomers are beginning to need healthcare assistance with parents and spouses requiring nurses, aides and nursing homes, LoMedico said. He said Medicaid should be the last thing government officials are looking to cut.

“These are the people that have worked diligently their whole lives and done everything they could to provide for their families and their nation and their communities,” LoMedico said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for the creation of a Medicaid redesign team, tasked with finding $2.5 billion in savings during his budget address Jan. 21. He attributed $2 billion of the state’s budget deficit to Medicaid.

A resolution, drafted by LoMedico and sponsored by all members of the Common Council, was approved by a unanimous vote. The resolution said a steep cut to Medicaid would create a healthcare crisis with “deep, lasting consequences.”

Emma Monroe, a healthcare worker and member of the 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers East union, said she’s happy the Common Council came out against any possible healthcare cuts.

“Cuts like the ones being proposed would especially hurt communities like ours that depend on these services the most,” Monroe said.

The state capped local government contributions to Medicaid in 2013, which resulted in a $20 billion increase state budget, Cuomo said during his Jan. 21 address. The governor pledged the Medicaid budget shortfall would not be paid by local governments, whatever the solution determined by the redesign team.

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Utica Common Council opposes proposed Medicaid cuts – Utica Observer Dispatch