The sun sets on the U.S. Capitol on March 8, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
Alaska is uniquely at risk as congressional Republicans attempt to slash the Medicaid program, which provides health coverage for nearly 250,000 Alaskans and most Alaska children. The impact of these cuts would be immediate and devastating: Families without access to care, higher crime due to untreated mental health and substance abuse issues, and children suffering without access to doctors.
Alaska has one of the highest rates for child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence, suicide mortality and out of home placements for kids. Many of Alaska’s children, who have been directly affected by these rates, receive crucial services funded by Medicaid.
Many of our youth in the foster care system have experienced adverse life experiences that have greatly impacted their mental and behavioral health. Our youth rely on services such as therapy, community programing and behavioral support, foster home placements, and advocacy efforts. These provide consistency, stability and support during an uncertain time in their life. As a front-line worker, I have seen firsthand how the already grossly underfunded Medicaid program has affected our youth. We’ve seen a decrease in available foster homes and in adoptions, and we struggle with appropriate staffing levels, which means many of our youth miss out on services and support that they may need.
Further limiting access to these services by reducing funding could devastate our small rural communities, which sees a Medicaid enrollment rate of 39%, most of which are children and pregnant people. Disruption in services could decrease the availability of medical flights, practically cutting off our rural communities from essential, routine medical care that may not be available within villages. Reducing community mental health centers’ capacity even further to provide services to Indigenous youth means that many could be sent out of state to gain access to the care they need, subsequently separating families. The goal of community mental health centers is to reunify families, not to create additional barriers that only distress and break them more.
Access to mental health services, majorly provided by community mental health centers, has been linked to a decrease in crime, incarceration and suicide rates. Children and teens thrive when they have routine, structure and consistent relationships with safe caregivers. Adding additional red tape to these services could devastate Alaska’s rural communities by cutting off accessibility to services provided by community mental health centers, which is already strained by a reduced capacity. Cutting funding and access will only disrupt these services and could directly increase Alaska’s already high crime, suicide and incarceration rates, especially within our small rural Indigenous communities and at-risk youth population.
Our members of Congress can stop these devastating cuts: Given very narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich can protect Alaska, but only if they’re willing to put our state’s best interests ahead of the radical billionaires running the Trump administration. Begich has already contradicted his oath to the constitution. He voted to cut at least $880 billion in Medicaid funding, proving his is not a voice for all Alaskans and is only the voice for some who agree with his ideology. His vote is contradictory to his “pro-life” stance, as cutting Medicaid funding will affect programs that our foster care youth, veterans, Alaskans in small rural communities, and struggling families utilize as lifelines. When he votes like this, he works for the far-right administration, and not for the American people, especially not Alaskans.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.