Message From Our CEO
A Message From Jim Mangia, President & CEO
Can We Save the Safety Net?
The United States Congress passed, and Donald Trump signed the most oppressive budget bill in U.S. history. Severe cuts to Medicaid and food programs will leave millions of Americans hungry and without healthcare – all to provide trillions of dollars in tax cuts to America’s billionaires. The bill increases taxes on people making under $15,000 a year will by 75% and between $15,000 and $30,000 a year by over 20%. It is the largest distribution of wealth from the poor and middle-class to the rich in American history. And in California, the Governor and state legislature have initiated deep cuts to Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) and immigrant health programs. The combined cuts, fees and bureaucratic paperwork imposed on 72 million Americans who have Medicaid/Medi-Cal will force millions and millions of Americans to lose their health coverage.
With the increase in raids, detentions and deportations against our immigrant families, the situation in Los Angeles could not be more dire. More than 30% of our patients are cancelling appointments because of fear of masked immigration authorities. Many have diabetes and other chronic conditions and are not able to pick up their medicine. Thousands of our neighbors have been deported, leaving families without income and leaving children stranded, alone and in some cases – in cages.
But in the face of these horrible conditions, St. John’s Community Health has stepped up to continue to support our communities, keep them healthy and fight for their healthcare. We are working as part of a coalition to put a proposition on the California ballot to increase revenue to continue to fund Medi-Cal and prevent the California cuts from taking effect. St John’s has developed the “Healthcare Without Fear” program – sending doctors to the homes of our immigrant patients who are afraid to leave their house to see their doctor. And we’re delivering their medicine. We have expanded our transgender health and HIV programs in spite of the cuts in federal grants which Trump has illegally imposed. We will keep South Los Angeles, Compton, East LA and the Inland Empire healthy regardless of what the Trump administration does.
L.A. STRONG! This is the time for good-meaning people to come together and support our institutions, our clinics and our people. We cannot cower in the face of these attacks. We must stand together and continue to build. That’s what St. John’s plans to do. We hope you will join us!
Jim Mangia
President and CEO
“Thank you for being kind and marvelous with the clinic patients.” – Rafaela
St. John’s is grateful for grant support received from L.A. Care Health Plan’s Robert E. Tranquada, MD Safety Net Initiative, which provides funding opportunities to safety net providers throughout Los Angeles County to improve their core infrastructure and capabilities and to support projects that have a long-term and systemic impact on health equity.
St. John’s is grateful for the grant support received from L.A. Care Health Plan’s Provider Recruitment Program (PRP). PRP is one of the grant programs under L.A. Care’s Elevating the Safety Net Initiative focused on strengthening L.A. County’s provider safety net by attracting new physicians to their Medi-Cal network and increasing healthcare access to low-income populations. www.lacare.org/elevateproviders