{"id":47154,"date":"2025-07-14T11:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=47154"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T09:59:22","slug":"fy-budget-2026-council-chair-phil-mendelson-joins-committee-on-health-in-quietly-gutting-dcs-longest-running-locally-funded-healthcare-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/47154","title":{"rendered":"FY Budget 2026: Council Chair Phil Mendelson Joins Committee on Health in Quietly Gutting DC\u2019s Longest-Running Locally-Funded Healthcare Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/b>
July 14, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

FY Budget 2026:<\/u>\u00a0<\/i>Council Chair Phil Mendelson Joins Committee on Health in Quietly Gutting DC\u2019s Longest-Running Locally-Funded Healthcare Program<\/font><\/h3>\n

Approximately 25,000 Immigrant & Low-Income DC Adults Face Illness and Death \u2014 as \u201cCost-Effective Restructuring\u201d Moves to a Vote TODAY!<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/b> \u2014 On Sunday afternoon, July 13, 2025, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson stood before a small group of journalists at the Wilson Building and confirmed what many advocates had feared: The budget proposal to dismantle DC\u2019s locally funded Healthcare Alliance, which for decades has provided life-saving care to over 25,000 DC residents who are ineligible for federal programs like Medicaid and Medicare, will move to the Council as a whole for a Vote on Monday, July 14.<\/p>\n

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Mendelson called the decision a \u201crestructuring,\u201d suggesting the move will shift Alliance members into the DC Health Benefit Exchange \u2014 the local Affordable Care Act marketplace \u2014 in the name of \u201ccost-effectiveness.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe hope [former Alliance members] will have similar benefits [in the healthcare marketplace], but be much more cost effective,\u201d said Mendelson.<\/i><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Watch the presser<\/b> (22:30 mark): tinyurl.com\/mendo-july-13-media-briefing<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But Mendelson's optimistic framing before DC's local media conceals devastating truths:<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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