Washington – The National Health Law Program (NHeLP), with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), is intensifying its efforts to fight for access to quality health care for people surviving on limited incomes, especially children and families, people with disabilities, and communities of color.
WKKF is supporting NHeLP’s work with a $1.2 million-dollar grant.
“More than 30 million children receive quality health care coverage through Medicaid, and those children would be harmed by policies now being advocated in Congress to drastically cut Medicaid funding,” NHeLP Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor said. “With the help of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NHeLP will increase its efforts to highlight how vital Medicaid is to low-income children and families and other communities who have been historically discriminated against and underserved in our health care system.”
Legal Director Jane Perkins said NHeLP would employ advocacy, policy analysis, and litigation to fight efforts that could reduce health coverage and health access of vulnerable populations.
“Almost everyone in the United States benefits from the Medicaid Act. This law provides quality health insurance and coverage innovations that are designed to meet the health care needs of low-income individuals and people with disabilities. Policies that undercut Medicaid eligibility and services must be viewed critically and, when appropriate, challenged. This funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is critical in allowing us to do the job that needs to be done.”
NHeLP will work with state and national partners, including the Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), and the Georgetown Center for Children and Families (CCF) to protect Medicaid services for low-income individuals and families.
Please contact NHeLP’s Director of Communications Jeremy Leaming for more comment about NHeLP’s mission and work.
NHeLP, founded in 1969, advocates for the rights of low-income and underserved people to access quality health care.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.
