Senator Charles Schumer was back in the Finger Lakes on Monday warning about what he says is the Trump Administration’s plan to “cripple Medicaid.”
During a stop at the Finger Lakes Area Counseling & Recovery Agency (FLACRA) in Newark, Senator Schumer called on Congressional Republicans to block Trump’s plan to “decimate Medicaid.” He claimed the Republican plan to cut $880 billion from Medicaid would hurt more than 300,000 New Yorkers in the Finger Lakes and set back Upstate NY’s decades of efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
“House Republicans just voted to advance the biggest Medicaid cut in history, putting places like the Finger Lakes Area Counseling & Recovery Agency where 70% of their patients in recovery in danger. Make no mistake: these cuts could set back decades of efforts to combat the opioid epidemic in Upstate NY and risk healthcare for over 300,000 across the Rochester-Finger Lakes region,” said Senator Schumer. “Medicaid is one of the largest funding sources for Rochester’s nursing homes, hospitals, and is a lifeline for our rural areas and especially our addiction treatment centers. Across the Finger Lakes, seniors are worried they could be kicked out of their nursing homes and patients in recovery are fearful they’ll be stuck, stranded, and abandoned with no support. We are in the fight of a lifetime to block the Republican plan to gut Medicaid by $880 BILLION. That’s why I’m demanding NY House Republicans stand up and join me in ensuring Finger Lakes rehab centers and patients have the resources they need to fight the opioid crisis.”
Schumer said Finger Lakes patients in recovery will face the worst when Republicans cut Medicaid. Over 300,000 people in the Finger Lakes have Medicaid for their insurance, and many of them are patients in recovery who could be discharged from local rehab facilities if Congressional Republicans cut Medicaid. Schumer explained that once Medicaid is forced to stop paying for addiction treatment in these facilities, and once the facilities exhaust every possible way to keep patients in place, facilities could be forced to lay off staff and kick patients to the curb, setting back decades of efforts fighting the opioid crisis in the Finger Lakes.
FLACRA President & CEO Jennifer Carlson said, “The proposed Medicaid cuts will be devastating for individuals and families in need of critical, life-saving substance abuse and mental health treatment. These cuts will impede urgent and time-sensitive access to care programs offered through FLACRA and other Behavioral Health providers throughout our communities. The nation is in a substance abuse and mental health epidemic. Thank you, Senator Schumer, for opposing these cuts and for continuing to support access to vital care and services for people during such a critical time.”
Medicaid funding is also vital to fund the work of the Wayne County Department of Mental Health and Wayne Behavioral Health Network (WBHN) which operates outpatient mental health and addiction treatment programs and support services through its clinics. In 2024 alone WBHN served 4,255 clients in over 95,000 individual sessions of which 76% were billed and paid by Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care. This Medicaid revenue has been critical for WBHN to fiscally sustain offsetting any cost to Wayne County for over a decade.
Schumer added, “This proposal to decimate Medicaid is not just heartless, it would make streets across the Finger Lakes less safe. It would be a gut punch to our efforts to combat the opioid crisis in Upstate NY.”
Wayne Behavioral Health Substance Use Treatment Senior Program Supervisor, Jamie Castellano-Gates said, “Our clients struggle with so many barriers dealing with addiction and other co-occurring disorders but also the lack of resources from living in a rural community. Medicaid has been so helpful to these individuals who rely on it to get in treatment programs…They are incredibly fearful they will be “stuck, stranded and abandoned” – with no support and unable to progress in recovery. Medicaid funding has made recovery a viable option for the majority of our clients to present them with opportunities they never would have.”
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