New Ad Features Rockland County Seniors Warning: “Mike Lawler, Stop Voting to Cut Our Health Care”
Empire State Voices Launches Second Paid Ad Highlighting Rep. Lawler’s vote to cut Medicare to give tax cuts to the rich.
WEST HAVERSTRAW, NEW YORK — Today, outside Helen Hayes Hospital, Empire State Voices unveiled its second digital ad holding Rep. Mike Lawler accountable for a voting record that has put Hudson Valley seniors’ health care at risk and raised health care costs to benefit the rich.
The ad features Robert, a Rockland County senior, and his wife — high school sweethearts now approaching retirement — who fear that rising costs and cuts to Medicare will derail the security they spent a lifetime working toward.
Rockland County senior Robert, outside Helen Hayes Hospital | CREDIT: Empire State Voices
The ad directly calls out Rep. Lawler for voting for the Republican Tax Law, which will lead to significant changes to Medicare and make it harder to access Medicare savings programs.
Health care workers also joined Robert at today’s press conference, warning that cuts to health care, including Medicare, would not only harm seniors directly, but also strain hospitals, providers, and rehabilitation facilities that rely on stable federal funding. Robert, shared: “as a now-retired civil servant paying Medicare premiums, I also have to pay thousands of dollars a year for a secondary health insurance policy to cover what Medicare doesn't. My premium for that insurance skyrocketed by 12.5% this year after it increased by 13.5% in 2025. Reductions to Medicare coverage would multiply those soaring health care costs. I'm not unique. No doubt there are thousands of retirees in the Hudson Valley in the same boat.”
These and other votes Rep. Lawler has taken have real consequences. From cuts to Medicare funding to the expiration of ACA health care tax credits that helped thousands of New Yorkers afford coverage, families across NY-17 are paying more — during an already punishing cost-of-living crisis.
“One trillion in cuts to Medicaid, hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicare, premiums skyrocketing in the ACA. All of this represents the largest cut to health care in the history of our nation. People will get sicker, people will suffer, people will die. Lawler's own neighbors, including people who voted for him.” Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works. “Lawler did all of this to give trillions in tax handouts to the richest people in the history of the world. We demand that Lawler quit working for billionaire donors and start working for his bosses: The people of the Hudson Valley.”
Transcript of "Robert" below:
ROBERT: “Janet and I met over fifty years ago when we were in high school together.
We are kayakers. We like to get out as much as we can. We’re ready to enjoy our retirement.
But we might not get to.
Congressman Mike Lawler voted to cut Medicare to give tax cuts to the rich.
If we didn’t have Medicare, for all of our medical bills, we would both be going back to work. And that’s not retirement.
Mike Lawler needs to protect our health care.”
[Text: Tell Rep. Mike Lawler: Stop voting to make healthcare more expensive. (202) 225 6506]
Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, Rockland County senior Robert, and Zachary Tirgan of Empire State Voices, outside Helen Hayes Hospital | CREDIT: Empire State Voices
To learn more about Empire State Voices, contact press@empirestatevoices.org
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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.
