HOT 97 Partners With 1199 For Healthcare Equity Discussion

Since November 2023, HOT 97 has been working hand-in-hand with the Healthcare Education Project to advocate for healthcare justice. HOT 97 talent like Ebro Darden, TT Torrez, and Funk Flex have partnered with New York healthcare advocates, and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the nation’s largest healthcare union, to shine a light on the issue of Medicaid equity.

In New York, Medicaid protects over seven million people, many of whom are under the age of 30. But chronic underpayments put that system at risk, and threaten the coverage of mothers, children, families, seniors, and people with disabilities. Years of underpayments have created a multi-billion dollar funding gap that hurts hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers in Black and Latino neighborhoods, which exacerbates healthcare inequalities and fuels the disparate health outcomes in these communities.?

George Gresham, 1199SEIU President, went on Ebro in the Morning on November 22, 2023 to raise awareness of this issue. Gresham explained that there’s a disparity in payments between Medicaid patients and privately insured patients. New York only partially reimburses hospitals when they care for Medicaid patients, compared to private insurers, who fully reimburse them for their services. Gresham compared the system to being raised in the segregation-era South, and the core unfairness of the policy, which is “separate and unequal” to many.

Right now, New York’s Medicaid program pays hospitals 30% less than the actual cost of care hospitals provide. When those costs aren’t fully reimbursed, the patients in those hospitals suffer: Mental health beds are lost, emergency room wait times grow longer, and staffing shortages get worse. Some hospitals in New York City are even closing. Hospitals in New York continue to struggle financially more than in the rest of the U.S.: 63% had an operating deficit in 2021. The state’s severe underfunding of Medicaid is a major cause.

On February 17, 2024, HOT 97 host TT Torrez marched alongside 1199SEIU healthcare workers at the annual Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus Conference in Albany. “We need to make sure that we have the resources for our hospitals!” TT said at the State Capitol. “We need to make sure our senior citizens have the right doctors and medication, we need to make sure our children have the right resources that they need to grow up and be productive members of their classrooms and communities,” she exclaimed to applause. The halls of the Empire State Plaza Concourse were flooded with healthcare workers and advocates who chanted for healthcare equity.

On Friday, March 22, Funk Flex was joined by Jadakiss and Jim Jones at a rally in Manhattan’s East Village for Medicaid Equity. Harlem-based Platinum-selling artist Jim Jones addressed the crowd about growing up on Medicaid and why this cause is important to him.?

“I do not dabble in politics but I advocate for a good cause. And I know that gap is causing a big problem. And me being a kid growing up on Medicaid, I know how important these hospitals are. So we need the government, and the governor, to put that 30% or so” back into Medicaid payments, said Jones. “It’d be smooth sailing and these hospitals won't start closing down due to what they're causing.” Jones and Jadakiss then marched with thousands of healthcare workers, faith leaders, Medicaid patients, and community activists to the Governor's office on 3rd Avenue, where Jones reiterated: “We need that 30!”

Learn more about Medicaid equity and healthcare justice at https://healthcareeducationproject.org