As the federal government gets closer to reaching its borrowing limit on February 28, 1199SEIU members are meeting with their congressional representatives, urging them to protect healthcare from proposed debt ceiling cuts.

The so-called “fiscal cliff” was avoided in early January by temporarily delaying cuts and changes to Medicare, Medicaid and other important programs for working and middle-class families. But much remains at stake today as automatic cuts of $109 billion have been averted only until March 1.

The heart of the conflict lies in the disagreement between the President and Congressional Republicans over raising the debt ceiling--how much money the federal government can spend. Congressional Republicans want all deficit reductions to be made by cutting government spending, especially from programs that are important to working families, like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Both the White House and Congress have called for Medicare “reform”, which could mean drastic cuts to hospitals by reducing Graduate Medical Education, outpatient clinics, and other services funded in part by Medicare. Cuts to these programs will jeopardize essential services to vulnerable citizens who need support the most and put jobs at risk.

1199SEIU opposes cuts to Medicaid: The original Budget Control Act agreed to hold Medicaid harmless and so should any new debt ceiling deal.

The union also opposes cuts to Medicare hospital payments. This means preserving funding for Graduate Medical Education, which underwrites our teaching hospitals. Proposed cuts would force teaching hospitals to lay-off staff and shut down training programs. With a third of all doctors expected to retire in the next decade and an aging population straining health care services, America’s worsening physician shortage is becoming a national crisis. But instead of protecting Graduate Medical Education — which pays to train the next generation of doctors — Congress is considering gutting these vital funds. Fixing the debt by making worse a looming doctor shortage will only harm patients.

1199ers are also telling their Congressional representatives to oppose reduction in emergency and management service payment rates in hospital outpatient clinics: These proposed cuts would dramatically reduce payments for outpatient services, forcing clinics to close. The cuts fail to account for the extra costs hospitals incur when providing care to uninsured and underinsured patients who are often in worse health and with more complex health needs. Hospital-based clinic doctors have for decades been the primary — and sometimes the only — source of physician access in many underserved rural and urban communities across the country.

To speak out against the cuts, 1199ers are urged to call or write their representatives in Congress today.