Thousands converged on a Jan. 26 meting of Republican Party members in Philadelphia and protested attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
transfer of billions in tax cuts over the next 10 years to the richest two percent of Americans It was the rollback of ACA Medicaid expansion that had extended coverage to 11 million previously uninsured in 31 states and the District of Columbia that would have struck the most damaging blow to 1199ers and those they care for. In New York State alone, Medicaid provides coverage for 6.4 million people—among them, 2.3 million in New York City alone. “Medicaid is integral to the people I serve,” says Katherine Lewis, an OBGYN physician assistant at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) on Staten Island, NY. Lewis lobbied, attended meetings and addressed a Staten Island Town Hall meeting. “Health disparities will worsen without Obamacare and Medicaid,” she warned at the meeting. She also was concerned about what the repeal of the ACA world mean for the community in which she works and also was born and raised. “When you drill down, those most affected by cuts would be children, seniors and disabled people,” she says. “The cuts would affect their health and the health of our entire community.” Republican Dan Donovan, Staten Island’s lone member of Congress, heard the pleas of Lewis and others in the district. Although he originally supported the bill, Rep. Donovan announced just moments before the last scheduled vote in Congress that he would vote against it. New Jersey advocates were able to convince three Republican Congress members to oppose the bill. The bill would have cut $3 billion in state Medicaid funding and thrown 550,000 persons off the Medicaid rolls. “If Medicaid is cut, it will hurt our ability to care for our residents,” cautioned Ella Moton, a CNA at
“The ACA is not just about health care, it’s about the health of our entire community.”
HarborView NH in Jersey City. Moton was among the speakers at a March 22 rally against the Republican healthcare bill outside the Trenton, NJ statehouse. Moton warned that Medicaid cuts would have worsened the staffresident ratio at nursing homes, making it more difficult to provide adequate care. She cited a former resident, a retired Tuskegee airman, one of the historic WWII African American pilots. “It was an honor to care for him after everything he did for our country” she said. “Someone like him should never have to sit
alone in the corner all by himself because there isn’t enough staff to give him compassionate care.” Pleas like those of Moton con vinced the last New Jersey Republican holdout, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, to announce his opposition. At press time, jubilant 1199ers were celebrating the healthcare victory, albeit with eyes on recentlyintroduced draconian federal budget. “This means we can really build a people’s movement,” affirmed 1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham. “But then we need to get back to work and raise the volume even higher for our next battle.”
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