Chicago, IL — The following is a statement from Kendra Davenport, President and CEO of Easterseals, in response to recent reporting on the consequences of cutting Medicaid-funded services for people with mental conditions:
“Cutting Medicaid services leads to exactly the outcomes we are now seeing: worsening health, crisis, and preventable loss of life.
When people lose access to consistent, community-based care, they don’t stop needing support. They lose stability. They miss treatment. Conditions that were manageable become emergencies.
We know these services work. Medicaid-funded, community-based care helps people stay on treatment, avoid hospitalization, and live safely in their communities. It is also more cost-effective than the alternatives.
When these services are cut, the costs don’t disappear, they shift to emergency rooms, law enforcement, and families already stretched thin. And too often, policymakers are forced to reverse course after the damage is done.
We should not need a tragedy to prove what is already clear.
Lives are at stake, and what makes this crisis so devastating is that it is entirely preventable.
As states and federal leaders consider changes to Medicaid, the focus should be on protecting and strengthening these services. They are essential to people’s health, stability, and ability to live in their communities.”
