Open Society Foundations Support National Law Program’s Leading Role in Protecting Medicaid, Advancing Health Rights

Open Society Foundations Support National Law Program’s Leading Role in Protecting Medicaid, Advancing Health Rights

$1 Million Grant to Bolster NHeLP’s Efforts to Protect the Health Care Rights of Low-Income Individuals and Families

Washington – The Foundation to Promote Open Society, part of the Open Society Foundations, is supporting the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) with a $1 million grant for general operating purposes. NHeLP will use the funding to continue its leadership role in protecting Medicaid and advancing the health rights of low-income people and underserved communities.

 “Open Society is devoted to human rights, to addressing inequalities, to advancing justice and to holding those in power accountable. These values are also at the core of NHeLP’s mission and our work,” NHeLP Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor said. “We are honored that Open Society is generously supporting the legal efforts of NHeLP to secure Medicaid and the health care rights of our country’s most vulnerable people.” 

Taylor continued, “Right now is a critical time for our nation, as the Trump administration and its congressional allies continue to look for ways to radically harm the funding structure of Medicaid, and to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which extended Medicaid to more than 11 million people and helped reduce the nation’s uninsured rate to the lowest it has been in more than 50 years.”

Legal Director Jane Perkins said NHeLP would remain vigilant to hold the Trump administration accountable for maintaining the protections set forth in federal laws, such as Medicaid, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or national origin)..

“Our country is stronger and more just because of these laws,” Perkins said. “Policies, whether at the federal or state level, that roll back these laws or ignore the protections they provide to low-income people and people with disabilities must be questions and, if necessary, challenged. Funding from Open Society will further enable NHeLP to continue this important work.”

Please contact NHeLP’s Director of Communications Jeremy Leaming at [email protected] for more comment about our mission and work.

NHeLP, founded in 1969, advocates for the rights of low-income and underserved people to access quality health care.

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