Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Issues Statement Denouncing Trump Administration Plan to Cut Medicaid

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism issued the following statement:

In response to new guidance announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services establishing a Medicaid block grant program, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, released the following statement on behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the wider Reform Movement institutions:

"By encouraging states to cap federal funds for Medicaid expansion, the Trump administration is fundamentally undermining Medicaid and jeopardizing access to health care for the most vulnerable Americans. Medicaid expansion primarily covers low-income adults and has been proven to increase access to care and save lives. Block grants would overturn the existing funding system, under which the federal government takes care of 90 percent of all costs for people covered by Medicaid expansion, effectively cutting federal funding and lessening the ability of states to cover the full cost of providing life-saving coverage for those in need of care.

"Jewish tradition teaches that God did not divide creation between the sick and the well, between people who can afford health care and those who cannot, or between those who are entitled to health care and those who are not. God created all of us, endowed us with equal rights, and charged us with the responsibility to be partners in the act of healing. By reducing federal funds and encouraging states to cut benefits, this plan threatens that sacred responsibility and will harm vulnerable members of our community.

"The Reform Movement remains committed to advocating for a health care system that enables all people to access high quality, affordable care."

* * *

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose nearly 850 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 2,000 Reform rabbis. Visit www.rac.org for more.