Dozens of national organizations joined forces this week in a letter to House and Senate leaders protesting a major Medicaid restructuring in a proposed federal budget deal, resulting in federal cuts to school-based Medicaid, arguing it would jeopardize the health care of the nation’s most vulnerable children.

The Feb. 17 letter, signed by 65 organizations, was spearheaded by the Medicaid in the Schools Coalition, which advocates to protect and improve school-based Medicaid programs, which primarily serve students with disabilities and those living in poverty.

“Any cuts to Medicaid would reduce care for children with disabilities, undermine efforts to address the mental health crisis and exacerbate workforce shortages of school health providers,” said Jessie Mandle, the national program director at the Healthy Schools Campaign and coalition co-chair. “Strong school-based Medicaid programs … rely on a strong Medicaid program overall, and so cutting Medicaid is equivalent to cutting school district budgets.”

Schools receive about $7.5 billion annually from Medicaid, a popular joint federal and state health program that insures nearly 70 million Americans, most of whom are low-income. For more than 30 years, it’s paid for services in schools for students with disabilities as well as low-income students.

While President Trump said this week that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would not be touched in the GOP’s quest to deliver $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and beefed-up border security, $880 billion in Medicaid funding decreases are being eyed in the House.

School-based Medicaid makes up less than 1% of the overall program’s budget, but is still the fourth-largest funding stream for districts and allows them to pay for a swath of resources, including therapies for students with disabilities, school nurses, mental health care and specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs.

Almost 70% of districts use Medicaid funding to pay for the salaries of health professionals, according to 2017 data. New data forthcoming from The Healthy Schools Campaign suggests that the number is now even higher, Mandle told The 74.

Read the full article about federal cuts to school-based Medicaid by Amanda Geduld at The 74.