Storytellers in Nine States Joined The First Two Weeks of Protect Our Care’s “Sick of It! Fix Health Care Now” Bus Tour
Trump and Republicans in Congress ignited a health care crisis and working families are sick of it! After ransacking over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, Republicans then ripped away the tax credits that over 22 million Americans relied on for affordable coverage. Ever since, premiums have skyrocketed, millions have been kicked off their coverage, and over 1,250 hospitals, clinics and essential providers have closed, cut services, or are at risk of doing so.
As Care Force One travels through communities hit hardest by the GOP’s health care crisis one thing is clear: the American people are fighting back. We are hearing from cancer survivors like Laura Packard whose ACA coverage saved their lives, from mothers like Callie Harper in Georgia whose access to maternity care made the difference between life and death. We are hearing from nursing home workers like Dorseylane Rebillard in Pennsylvania, who explained how Medicaid keeps her facility up and running. In every community, people are demanding immediate solutions to address this crisis, including restoring tax credits to lower insurance premiums, reversing devastating Medicaid cuts, expanding Medicare’s power to negotiate lower prices for more drugs, and extending those lower prices to all Americans with insurance. Learn more about their stories below:
Laura Packard, cancer survivor [Bangor, Maine]
- “Nine years ago, I walked into the doctor’s office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage four cancer diagnosis. Luckily, I had good insurance that paid for the chemotherapy and radiation I needed to survive. But I’m sick of watching Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress demolish our health care system. Lawmakers need to restore the tax credits that keep premiums affordable, reverse these devastating Medicaid cuts, and make sure people like me can actually afford to survive. Cancer doesn’t wait, and neither should Congress.”
Cecil Abels III, small business owner [Rochester, New Hampshire]
- “Running a small business calls for long days, careful planning and a willingness to solve problems. As the owner of MrSippy BBQ in Rochester, I understand that hard work comes with the job.”
- “But getting the health care we need should not require that same constant struggle. I grew up as a Navy kid — and until 24, healthcare was not an issue — until it was. For years, I didn’t have coverage. Today I can live in fear of an injury – even though I have coverage. Health care should be a right, and our government should be working to make that right meaningful.”
- “This issue reaches into every part of community life. It affects families, workers, business owners, and the people who care for our neighbors. Whatever our politics, we should be able to agree that people deserve care they can reach, understand, and afford.” [Foster’s Daily Democrat]
Alan Levy, cancer survivor [Tarrytown, New York]
- “Like many cancer patients, my focus wasn’t on bills while fighting for my life. It was on getting better, spending time with my family, and hoping for the chance to see another birthday. I’m alive today because of medical research, access to quality health care, and reliable insurance. At some of the most frightening moments of my life, I never had to wonder whether I could afford a surgery my doctor said I needed or whether the insurance company would pull the rug out from under me. That security allowed me to focus on healing.”
- “When Congressman Mike Lawler voted to slash Medicaid and Affordable Care Act funding, he voted to take that same sense of security away from thousands of Hudson Valley families. The lifeline that helped save my life is the same lifeline he’s now making harder for others to access.”
Victoria Schiano, parent and disability advocate [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]
- “Cole [my son] has mitochondrial disease. He has 36 doctors and a central line that goes directly into his heart, through which he receives his nutrition and fluids that keep him alive. He qualifies for 20 hours a day of skilled nursing care….Medicaid pays for that care that allows Cole to live where he belongs, at home with me, in his community, in his classroom, and with his friends.
- Medicaid doesn’t just keep my son alive. Medicaid gives my son the freedom to live….When politicians talk about cutting Medicaid, they use words like savings. They talk about finding waste, fraud, and abuse. Well I want them to come meet Cole. Look my ten-year-old in the eyes and tell him which part of his life you consider wasteful. Is it the nurse who allows him to go to school? Is it the medication that prevents his seizures? Is it the sterile nutrition that goes directly into his heart? Is it the therapies that help him participate in his community? My child is not a waste. His care is not a fraud. And his life is not abuse. I am sick of having to prove otherwise.”
Dorseylane Rebillard, nursing home worker [Scranton, Pennsylvania]
- “For the past several years I’ve had the opportunity to work with my seniors in activities in a local nursing home which is located in Taylor, Pennsylvania… This job allows me to help seniors with dementia age with dignity in this community.”
- “The dedicated people who work at my facility alongside me love these residents like family. Because they are our family now. I love them for who they are, not what they have. Sadly, I don’t think enough lawmakers in Washington, D.C. understand this concept. When Republicans passed the big ugly bill they chose to cut the funding that keeps doors in nursing homes and hospitals open. I personally can’t imagine what would happen if people didn’t have access to nursing homes or hospitals in this area. Congressman Rob Bresnahan cut money for seniors and people with disabilities when he should’ve been making it easier for people to get the care they need. Why do you keep moving the goal post Rob?”
Karen Gray [Scranton, Pennsylvania]
- “I live in the Poconos, about 2.25 miles from a new data center site. My lungs are already impaired from my condition, and the pollutants from these sites can cause them to be further damaged, threatening my life. I’m already worried about the care and medication I need to stay healthy. What if the data centers are built and it gets a lot worse?”
Cesar Nieves, nursing home worker [Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]
- “Unlike what leaders like J.D Vance think about my clients, that they can just have their family members come and do chores around the house, a lot of my clients live far away from their families. One of them has no children and no siblings. When Ryan Mackenzie and the other Republicans chose to cut health care to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and terrorize our communities, they chose to leave millions of Americans to struggle to pay for their care. They chose to close hospitals and nursing homes instead of helping people.”
Theresa Grimm, parent and caregiver [Westfield, New Jersey]
- “I’m a Medicaid recipient, a caregiver, and the single mother of my profoundly autistic disabled teenaged twin boys, and a lifelong member of this community….I know firsthand what’s at stake when access to health care is threatened.”
- I know what it means to depend on Medicaid because I depend on it myself. I know what it means to coordinate care, fight for services, and worry about whether the providers my children rely on will still be available. I also know that families like mine are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for the health care our children need to live, learn, and participate in their communities. For our family, this is not an abstract policy debate. It is the difference between receiving consistent care and being forced to start over. And this is only the beginning.”
Kathy Trott, customer service representative at Dulles Airport [Dulles, Virginia]
- “I’ve worked at the Dulles airport for a little over a year and have gone that whole year without health insurance because, well, I can’t afford more of my hard-earned money going away to health care when I have so many other financial struggles.”
- “I am working two jobs just to try to make ends meet, and costs are constantly going up and up with no end in sight. It would be really nice to have our basic needs met because everyone deserves health care, every living being deserves health care. It’s just basic human rights.”
Christian Comas, ramp agent at Dulles Airport [Dulles, Virginia]
- “I worked at Dulles for a little over 14 years. I’m a father of two. I haven’t had healthcare in over ten years because it’s so expensive, and so I really haven’t even had a chance to get a physical or a checkup. I’m highly disappointed in our Republicans for taking away our tax credits and leaving myself and my coworkers without access to affordable health care.”
Kathleen Winters, small business owner [Williamsburg, Virginia]
- “For the past three years, my family has purchased health insurance on the Virginia Marketplace. After the cuts made to health care in the ACA in 2025, our insurance premiums jumped $300 a month. Unfortunately, that was unaffordable for us so we made the decision to switch to a higher deductible plan.
- We still pay $665 per month for a plan that has 20 and $50 co-pays and a $7,000 deductible. Once we hit that $7,000 deductible, we still have a 50% coinsurance for services like the emergency room and mental health care. In practice, this has meant delaying non-urgent diagnoses for my youngest child, declining an MRI for a herniated disc, and deciding which family members we need to prioritize because we haven’t met her deductible and will be paying out of pocket for those services.”
Becky Winstead-Roberts [Virginia Beach, Virginia]
- “A couple years ago, I had an episode of diabetic ketoacidosis. My blood sugar was 559…I went to the hospital. I was given treatment. Two days later, I left the hospital okay. With numbers like that I was not likely to survive had it not been for that treatment. In addition, if I did survive I probably would’ve had kidney issues and/or heart issues — of which I have none now. That’s because of the Affordable Care Act.”
- “Access to care is the reason that I am alive. It is the reason that I’m here. The thing that frustrates me the most is when Congresswoman Jen Kiggans voted for the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’, she said that she was proud to vote for it and I have struggled with that. How can anybody be proud of taking away health care that every Virginian and every American needs?”
Athena Jones [Virginia Beach, Virginia]
- “As a homecare worker earning $13.88 an hour, we don’t get the privilege of people coming around and saying they’re saving us and then, at the end of the day, gutting the very system that we need to survive.”
Haywood Watson [Rocky Mount, North Carolina]
- “We may not have the money, transportation, or physical ability to travel hours for basic medical care. And when hospitals are forced to cut services or close their doors, it doesn’t just affect the people who are sick today, it puts the whole community at risk.”
- “At 75, I shouldn’t have to wonder whether my doctor will still be there, whether my local hospital will still be open, or whether I can afford the care that keeps me healthy. We need to protect access to health care, not make it harder for older Americans and families to get the care they depend on. No one should have to choose between paying their medical bills and paying for food, housing, or electricity.”
Cody Collier [Columbus, Georgia]
- “I couldn’t afford the monthly premiums after losing my job last year, so I did what a lot of people do in my situation: I went without insurance and hoped I wouldn’t need it. A few weeks later, I had an accident and needed emergency medical care. Now I’m left with a huge hospital bill, and I have no idea how I’m going to pay it.”
- “Our elected officials have the power to make health insurance more affordable, but instead, politicians like Congressman Mike Collins have supported policies that make it much harder for people to get and keep coverage. We need our leaders to understand what these decisions mean for real people, and we need them to do something about it.”
Callie Harper, [Savannah, Georgia]
- “Had I been 30, 45, 90 minutes from a hospital when there were complications with my pregnancy, my daughter would likely not have survived, or she would have survived with profound consequences. That is what we are gambling with when we let hospitals close.”
Leslie Boyd [Asheville, North Carolina]
- “So they knew my son would die [because he didn’t have insurance], and they let it happen. And he’s not alone. In 2008, 45,000 Americans died the same way. 45,000. You know what it’s going to be this year? About 160,000. Think about that. That’s more people than live in Asheville. And they’re going to die because the rich don’t want us to survive. That’s what it seems like to me. He was an extraordinary human being, and none of that mattered. It would have been cheaper for us to take care of him. But our system is so broken, we decided to let him die instead. If we gave him a colonoscopy every year, let’s say in 2008, Medicaid was reimbursed $1,000 for a colonoscopy. Probably would have cost us $60,000 to give in that colonoscopy every year until he died of old age. But instead we said no. And we spent $1 million on his care, $1 million. Somehow we think that’s cheaper. We can’t do math.”
Dr. Brian Hambley, leukemia physician [Cincinnati, Ohio]
- “I know from personal experience how devastating these cuts have been. Last year a leukemia patient of mine maxed out her family’s credit cards to pay for their high-deductible plan’s copays. Nurses in our clinic helped another patient start a GoFundMe page to raise money for their bone marrow transplant.
- Our system has long been too confusing and expensive, but the number and degree of failures over the past year have demonstrated a system collapsing in its ability to serve Ohioans. It’s time for Congress to undo Republicans’ damage and make health care work better for everyone.”