In a letter issued earlier today on behalf of longtime patient Big Chief Bo Dollis of the Wild Magnolias, the New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC) announced that the non-profit organization would be losing its Louisiana State Medicaid funding, which supports 70% of its 2,500 patients, beginning January 1, 2014.

NOMC to lose its Louisiana Medicaid funding January 1, 2014.

Recent state of Louisiana Medicaid budget cuts mean that funds previously allocated to the NOMC annually to support the medical care the clinic provides for Louisiana musicians and culture bearers will no longer be made available. Although the NOMC raises other funds to run its service center, its Medicaid funding accounts for a large portion of its patients’ care. The letter released by Big Chief Bo Dollis and the NOMC today states that “because most New Orleans musicians earn less than $15,000 per year, [they] are classified as self-employed, working poor who fall into the “sacrifice zone” (with just enough income to disqualify [them] for state health care assistance, but not enough to qualify for federal health care assistance in purchasing health insurance).”

Big Chief Bo Dollis has received dialysis treatment for kidney failure following his stroke in 2005 through the NOMC, just one of more than 2,000 New Orleans musicians obtaining their health care in similar ways. Donations of any denomination to help fill the void this 2014 Medicaid cut will create can be made online, over the phone or in person to the NOMC. Visit the NOMC and New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation website (www.nomaf.org) for more information or to donate now.