New Mexico mom, advocates urge Congress to protect safety net programs

When Marissa Munoz took her oldest child to an urgent care clinic in Albuquerque 16 years ago, she didn’t know what Medicaid was until the staff explained to her how it could cover his treatment, and how to apply.

Now, with congressional Republicans threatening to gut Medicaid, she can’t imagine life without it.

Munoz lives in the South Valley, just outside Albuquerque. Originally from Juarez, Mexico, she came to the United States 23 years ago. Her three other children are still minors and also enrolled in Medicaid.

On Sunday, House Republicans released a plan that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates would cut $715 billion to Medicaid funding, which could translate to more than $1.1 billion in cuts here in New Mexico, according to budget experts. On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives panel in charge of overhauling Medicaid voted to move the proposal, which also adds work requirements for eligibility, forward.

Munoz told Source NM in an interview lawmakers in Congress should be aware of how the communities they represent benefit from Medicaid coverage, specifically for mental health treatment.

“If they’re going to cut those benefits, then that problem is going to get worse,” she said.

Munoz said her 13-year-old son has autism, thyroid issues and developmental delays. Every three months since he was a baby, medical staff have tested his blood and scanned his body with an MRI machine. Medicaid has covered the cost of those visits, and allowed her to seek second opinions when needed, she said.

Other students bullied Munoz’s son for being disabled, which led him to try to take his own life on two separate occasions. “He’s been going through a lot,” she said.

Munoz’s son now needs a weekly visit with a counselor at his school, which is also covered by Medicaid. The counselor helps him process his emotions, she said.

“Without Medicaid all these years, I don’t know how I would have done all this,” Munoz said. “I wouldn’t have been able to afford all of the treatment and care for him, let alone his medication.”

In interviews with Source NM, health care advocates in New Mexico said the proposed cuts would hurt not only patients but also rural hospitals, which heavily rely on Medicaid to pay for their operations.

New Mexico Voices for Children health policy analyst Monica Otero  told Source NM that Medicaid covers about 61% of New Mexican children, and 55% of births.

“Consistent health coverage really plays a role in reducing birth complications and health outcomes for birthing parents and children,” said Otero, who is pregnant herself and learning the importance of prenatal and perinatal care.

Arika Sanchez, health care director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said if New Mexico experiences these cuts, they would impact children, people with disabilities, elders, veterans, people working low-wage jobs that don’t provide health insurance, people in nursing homes and caregivers.

“Cutting Medicaid and putting on these work requirements just to increase barriers for people who get their health insurance through Medicaid, all of this is just an excuse to fund tax breaks for really wealthy people and corporations,” Sanchez said. “It really prioritizes profit over the care of our communities.”

Two months ago, Munoz said she and her family also enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), because she divorced her husband and she needed to make ends meet.

On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, the U.S. House Agriculture Committee held a markup on the Republican tax bill, which would cut $290 billion in SNAP benefits. SNAP provides Munoz’s family with $356 per month in food assistance, which she said covers a lot but not all of their food expenses.

“As a single mom, it’s hard to provide good food for the kids,” she said.

For the past four years, Munoz has worked part-time as a parental advisor for the nonprofit Partnership for Community Action, where she helps parents learn how to care for children aged zero to 5 years old, advocate for themselves, receive public benefits and get connected to different organizations around Albuquerque.

Munoz said her experience caring for her 13-year-old son has taught her about how Medicaid works, and better equipped her to help address the needs of parents facing similar situations with their own disabled children.

“It’s hard for parents to tell their kids, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t have a meal today,’” Munoz said.

If lawmakers also cut funding for SNAP, then that will only make it harder for families to succeed by taking the time to interview for jobs, she said.

Sanchez said when the government takes health care away from families, people put off going to the doctor, don’t receive preventive care and wait to receive care until they can’t put it off any longer, often leading to emergency room visits that are more expensive for them, the hospitals and the state.

“These cuts will not only impact families and patients but also providers, hospitals and our overall health care system,” she said.

Munoz asked lawmakers to consider what they would do if they got into an accident, or needed to see a doctor, and did not have certainty that the care would be paid for.

“I want the people in charge to think more about our community, because not everyone has the opportunity to have a good job,” she said. “Parents are going through a lot, and having these benefits is meaningful for them.”