Hudson Valley Leaders, Health Care Workers, and Patients Tell Rep. Mike Lawler: “Stop Cutting Medicaid!”
Photo Credit: Empire State Voices
WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK — Today, Hudson Valley residents, elected officials, union leaders, and advocates gathered at Northern Westchester Hospital to call out Rep. Mike Lawler for supporting policies that gut Medicaid, raise costs, and put local hospitals at risk. A professional-quality livestream of the event is available here, and clips of speakers' comments are available here. Raw footage available upon request.
The event, hosted by Empire State Voices, Social Security Works, Unrig Our Economy, and Northern Westchester Indivisible, was part of the Stop Taking Our Health Care campaign, bringing together community members on the frontlines of New York’s health care system to highlight what is at stake for Hudson Valley families with cuts to Medicaid. The action is part of a growing national push against the Republican Tax Law’s health care cuts.
Speakers warned that the Republican Tax Law that Rep. Lawler voted for cuts $128 billion from New York’s Medicaid program over the next decade, putting 45 hospitals at risk of closure—including two facilities serving Rep. Lawler’s district—and threatening care for communities across the region.
The rally comes as New York faces a looming health care coverage crisis, with nearly half a million residents at risk of losing Essential Plan coverage and as many as 860,000 New Yorkers projected to lose health insurance under broader cuts due to the Republican Tax Law.
“We’re here to make sure Hudson Valley residents understand exactly what’s at stake,” said Dylan Wheeler, Regional Organizing Director, Empire State Voices. “These Medicaid cuts put two hospitals in this district at risk of closing and threaten the health care of the 211,500 people in NY-17 who rely on Medicaid. That’s not abstract, that’s people losing access to care in their own community so that Rep. Lawler could give billionaires massive tax breaks.”
"Over 50,000 people will die per year because of Mike Lawler's healthcare cuts,” said Alex Lawson, Executive Director, Social Security Works. “This was a choice made by politicians in Washington DC. to put our health at risk. Why did they do this? To give trillions in tax handouts to the richest people in the history of the world."
"Mike Lawler voted to cut more than $900 billion out of Medicaid,” said Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, Senior Advisor, Social Security Works. “That's a hell of a lot of money, and it's going to put this hospital and every other hospital in danger."
“Cuts to Medicaid hit every hospital’s bottom line; fewer dollars mean fewer services and even closures. Even if you still have coverage, the places you rely on may be gone or overwhelmed as more patients are pushed into fewer facilities,” said Dr. Steve Auerbach with Health Justice for New York. “With billions stripped from the district because of this vote, everyone pays the price.”
“These days, I'm taking care of my son. I'm taking care of myself, and I'm taking care of my aging parents,” said Karen, a NY-17 resident and family caregiver. “My mother is 88 and has Alzheimer's. My father is 94. My parents need full-time support, and they rely on Medicaid for their round-the-clock care. Representative Lawler should be fighting to strengthen and fund Medicaid, not cutting it for families like mine.”
“Healthcare cannot be a right reserved for the privileged and fortunate. It is a part of what it means to stand up together as a community, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves,” said Dan Hutton, Pastor of Bedford Community Church, executive board member of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
For photo originals and additional photos, please email press@empirestatevoices.org
To learn more about Empire State Voices, contact press@empirestatevoices.org
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About Empire State Voices
Empire State Voices is a multi-year campaign dedicated to amplifying the voices of everyday working New Yorkers. We are fighting for economic policies that make life more affordable for constituents and holding members of Congress across the state accountable when they fail to do the same.
