Today, physicians across the country took part in a coordinated “Code Red” pause to protest devastating federal Medicaid cuts that threaten health care access for more than 13 million Americans. At SNMH, Charge Nurse Denise Verzerian, Dr Joel Miller, Dr Bridgette Mais, Dr Dawn Harris, Dr Erin Osiecki and Dr Ingrid Bauer stepped out of the ER for five minutes to join their colleagues nationwide.
Dr. Miller said, “We did a mini version of the walk at less than 5 minutes because we didn’t want to interrupt patient care.”
The action—Code Red: A National Pause to Save Medicaid—is a physician-led, nonpartisan demonstration in response to HR 1 and the Senate Finance Committee’s proposals, which would:
- Cut more than $900 billion from Medicaid
- Result in 13.7 million Americans losing health insurance
- Close rural hospitals, clinics, and critical access providers
- Disrupt care for children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities
- Overload ERs and threaten the survival of the nation’s safety net system
This national pause was started by a handful of physicians and has grown to thousands across the country. It is not being sponsored by any official organization – just practicing physicians with a desire to do more to bring attention to the Congressional Medicaid cuts. [source: California Medical Association]