Washington, D.C. — Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined Protect Our Care and health care advocates in a roundtable discussion about the harm the Republican budget will cause to seniors and families across the country. The speakers discussed how critical Medicaid has been for providing lifesaving care and coverage to their families, and how the Republicans’ budget bill jeopardizes that care for millions of Americans.
This week, House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees voted to advance their budget legislation which includes the largest Medicaid cuts in American history – all so Trump and the GOP can give tax breaks to the wealthiest people and corporations. Almost 80 million Americans rely on Medicaid/CHIP, including seniors, children, veterans, people with disabilities, workers who don’t get insurance through their jobs, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents. In addition to their draconian Medicaid cuts, Republicans are targeting key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. This budget will rip health care away from nearly 14 million Americans and force hospitals to close, push seniors out of nursing homes, and make basic health care unaffordable and inaccessible for more working families.
“As John Lewis would often say, budgets are a moral document – Show us how you spend money or take money away from the American people, and you’ll show us your values,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “Access to high-quality health care should be a right, and there is still a lot of work for us to do to get to that place, but we should not be going backward. That’s why this fight is so important for all of us. Republicans believed that they could just steamroll this very early on, but these next few days will be critical and we are committed to being in this fight until the very end.”
“There are real people behind these numbers,” said Elena Hung with Little Lobbyists. “There are children with complex medical needs whose only way to live in the community is through Medicaid. The Republican budget is a betrayal of the family values that Republicans claim to champion. If they were really in support of human values, they would support children like mine, children with complex medical needs and disabilities, and support Medicaid for helping them live at home and stay in the community.”
“I decided I was going to fight for health care when I was nine years old, because at two years old, I was diagnosed with chronic illnesses and disabilities,” said health care advocate Elizabeth Booker. “Medicaid provided me with the lifesaving care I needed. No child, no person in America should have the value of their life determined by whether they have access to health care, because health care is a right.”
“My independence is everything to me,” said Alene Shaheed with Justice in Aging. “What allows me to remain independent and not in a nursing home is the home health aids whose help I receive thanks to Medicaid. They are my lifeline.”
“Republicans have been relentless in their war on American health care,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Not only are Republicans gutting Medicaid, they’re taking an axe to the Affordable Care Act as well. For every person who relies on Medicaid, there’s a family who cares about them who is impacted by these cuts as well. There’s still time for Republicans to do the right thing and reject these draconian cuts to health care.”