PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A group of Brown University public health students is walking Providence neighborhoods twice a week to warn residents that federal Medicaid changes could cost them their health insurance, and to show them how to hold on to it.
Brown’s People, Place and Health Collective runs the Stay Covered Medicaid Fellows effort together with state Medicaid officials. Nine students were picked for the fellowship out of 45 applicants.
Part of the shift has already hit. Since Oct. 1, certain noncitizen adults no longer qualify for Medicaid under the federal budget law signed in July 2025. The state expects fewer than 3,500 noncitizens to be affected. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, childless adults ages 19 to 64 in the expansion group face new work requirements, and recipients will have to renew coverage every six months.
Fellows leave state-prepared flyers in several languages at markets, schools, restaurants and aid groups, and they staff weekly drop-in hours at 10 community organizations and clinics. Research associate Abdullah Shihipar, who leads the program, said each fellow puts in as many as 15 hours a week. Over the two-year effort the students will train as certified application counselors who can sit down with residents and work through forms.
The groups most at risk include immigrants, refugees, people without housing and people dealing with substance use disorder, organizers said. Kristin Sousa, who directs the state Medicaid program, said Rhode Island is backing the students with a statewide awareness campaign on billboards, buses, radio and social media.
Filed under: Providence RI Health News
