|
Dear ICC Community, Indiana lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 2, overhauling the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) and paving the way for significant cuts to Medicaid. Under this new legislation, one-third of current HIP members—an estimated 250,000 Hoosiers—will lose their health coverage. New requirements will also force individuals to report 20 hours of volunteer work each week in order to maintain coverage—an arbitrary and inhumane mandate that fails to account for the complex realities of poverty, disability, caregiving, chronic illness, and other life circumstances. At Irvington Counseling Collective, we see every day how critical access to care is for our community. Our 2024 Annual Report shows that over 30% of our clients currently rely on Medicaid to access essential mental health support. This translated to 2,220 mental health sessions provided to children, families, and adults living in poverty last year alone. Without Medicaid, hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers will be left without a lifeline—and the cost of this loss will ripple through our families, our neighborhoods, and our future generations. I know this personally. As the founder of ICC—and much like many who enter this field—my sense of purpose has been shaped by adversity. Both of my biological parents died prematurely as a direct result of untreated mental health conditions, and lacked consistent and/or adequate medical coverage throughout their adulthoods. Their deaths were not inevitable; they were the predictable outcomes of a system that denies care to those who need it most. The science is clear: the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study shows that exposure to traumatic events drastically increases the risk of early mortality. When we deny mental health care to those living through poverty, systemic racism, ableism, and structural violence, we are not just abandoning people—we are shortening their lives. When I envisioned ICC nearly ten years ago, our mission was shaped by lived experience—and by witnessing firsthand the harm caused when care is withheld. ICC was created, and continues to exist, as a place where community care takes root. A place where the principles of mutual aid, healthcare as a human right, and equity in access guide our way. Your support makes this work possible. It allows us to subsidize therapy sessions independent of government funding, to sustain our mutual aid programs for Black, Brown, Indigenous and Gender Expansive Hoosiers, and ensures that affirming, life-saving care remains accessible—not a luxury reserved for the few. We are committed to standing in the gap. Will you stand with us?
|
