Ripple effects from Medicaid cuts will be felt by thousands of Hawaiʻi residents, and the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi is worried it will be included in that chain reaction.
Lee Buenconsejo-Lum, the associate dean for academic affairs at JABSOM, stated that teachers at the school have always taught their students how to navigate situations with uninsured patients. But now, with an expected 30,000 Hawaiʻi residents being pulled off of Medicaid, that part of their education is even more crucial and applicable.
“They are taught what the current situation is, and what it could be, and how to engage with patients and families in ways that are very sensitive and respectful of whatever their family and resource situations are,” Buenconsejo-Lum said.
Without insurance, patients will have to pay out of pocket to cover the expenses. For many, returning for regular appointments might get too expensive, meaning their visit to a doctor’s office might be the only visit they have that year. This leaves medical practitioners needing to now account for things that may resurface within the next three to 12 months.
Buenconsejo-Lum added another large concern for JABSOM is the risk of losing smaller health care facilities due to federal funding cuts.
The school is affiliated with federally qualified health centers and smaller rural practices where students can go for weeks at a time to learn and be immersed in the actual field.
She added that many of these centers offer specialties and sub-specialties unique to that location, meaning that if the whole facility were to shut down, medical students would no longer be able to practice in that specific specialty.
If students can’t learn their preferred practice at home in the islands, it leaves them no choice but to turn to another state on the continent, deepening the state’s physician shortage.
“There will be a tremendous and unfortunate trickle-down impact to the patients and the communities if we lose the facilities where our students can practice,” Buenconsejo-Lum said.
“It's still important that everyone that graduates from JABSOM not only learns about the health care in their practice, but more importantly, learns about the community and the overall context of delivering health care in a rural community.”
But she emphasized that the overwhelming majority of the students at JABSOM came into the medical field to try and solve the systemic, underlying issues in health care systems, on top of being medical practitioners.
“Most of them have either personally, or through their families, experienced some sort of challenge to attaining health care,” Buenconsejo-Lum said. “A lot of the students are actually very passionate and fierce advocates of social justice and for making sure that everyone has equitable access to high-quality care without slipping through the cracks.”
