By Shefali Hegde, MD
PGY-4, Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS)
With the premature declaration of the ‘end’ of COVID-19, so too comes the end of federal and state pandemic-era protections. The harmful effects are already obvious for our patients. State officials estimate more than 300,000 will or already have lost Medicaid coverage since the end of the public emergency in May 2023. Many of our most vulnerable patients will be the ones to suffer the most from these disenrollments.
Dee, a long-time inpatient of ours with severe depression and catatonia, lost Medicaid coverage during his last inpatient stay despite still being eligible. As a result, we were forced to prescribe him a shorter course of medications on discharge. He now has to pay for his life-saving medications out-of-pocket (easily, hundreds of dollars) and navigate a tedious, months-long re-application process on his own.
As Matthew Desmond has outlined in his recent book, “Poverty, by America”, the majority of federal aid earmarked for the poor never reaches them. We see this in practice every day, as destitute individuals rely on hospitals simply to get a meal, take a shower, or find shelter. As the disenrollments continue, for Medicaid and other essential public services, we will see the outcomes in our emergency rooms. The need for a physician-led movement for universal health care is as important today as ever (https://pnhp.org/the-medicare-for-all-act-of-2023/).
