By Joshua Ratner, RA Public Policy Fellow
Recent Congressional proposals for reducing our national debt have called for Medicaid to be converted into a block grant program. Through resolutions and advocacy efforts, the RA historically has opposed any efforts to transform entitlements into block grants. Consistent with this long-held position, the RA is alarmed by the deleterious consequences of the proposed block grant system. We are sending each of our members this packet of resources to assist you in crafting your response to this issue of critical importance.
Governmental leaders in the United States are presently in the midst of a critical yet challenging national discourse about how to cut our national debt and best allocate our dwindling tax revenues. This ought to be a detailed, nuanced discussion where all programs, entitlement or otherwise, are examined in detail in an effort to save costs without jeopardizing quality. Jewish tradition teaches that there are no easy answers to such complex dilemmas. Shared sacrifice will have to occur; no individual and no program can expect to emerge from this analysis unscathed for as long as our national economy continues to sputter along.
But our textual tradition does have something important to offer the national discourse when it comes to assessing how best to allocate scarce resources. From the Tanakh to the Shulhan Arukh, Judaism consistently prioritizes access to health care over competing interests. As this source sheet makes clear, health care was decreed to be a mitzvah, inextricably intertwined with the principle of pikuah nefesh. As a result, access to health care was mandated for all, paid for out of communal funds, not a luxury only for those who could afford it. Moreover, Jewish sources extended this mandate to Jews and non-Jews alike.
This fact-sheet from the Jewish Federations of North America on the proposed Medicaid cuts spells out how transforming Medicaid into a block grant format would reduce aggregate funds for health care, thereby decreasing access to health care for those desperately in need (as well as eliminating the jobs of numerous Medicaid health care providers who themselves could become destitute and require Medicaid assistance).
There are a number of ways for you and members of your community to respond.
We look forward to hearing from you and working with you on these and other important public policy issues in the days and months ahead. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if we can be of service to you.