I know, even before making this statement, that it’s quite an additional burden to impose on the “No Kings” activists, but what the House Republicans have done by voting to remove nearly 14 million citizens off their healthcare is something that cannot be ignored. In effect, more than 7 million older adults and some 5 million people with disabilities receive benefits from Medicaid and Medicare. The bill would be the largest Medicaid cuts in the program’s history. With this assistance eliminated would force older citizens and those enrolled in disability programs to shoulder the expenses.
I am among those in this category and so this is a personal concern that I share with millions of Americans. Even with government programs, the out-of-pocket or co-pay may be a financial problem for many on a fixed, or little income, at all. Endangered, too, is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is absolutely critical to the health and well-being of the older members of our community and those afflicted with disabilities.
The Republicans have called this a reconciliation bill but it is more like an alienation bill, placing people in need farther from the help and assistance they vitally need. It would deliver a devastating blow to New York’s healthcare system, and that is why I stand firmly behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both of whom alluded to it during their remarks at former Congressman Charles Rangel’s funeral. As Rep. Jeffries stated recently, “We must keep the pressure on and continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the ‘One Big Ugly Bill’ is buried deep in the ground, never to rise again.”
As Gov. Hockul wrote in a letter to the Senate Majority Leader Thune and Minority Leader Schumer: “Passage of this legislation would worsen the affordability crisis and inject further instability into an already fragile economy.”
Yes, we have every right to be upset and outraged at the undemocratic, autocratic measures in effect on immigration; still, we must expend some time and energy on other pressing matters, and none are more immediately in need of blocking than a bill that would put our senior citizens in an even more perilous situation.
That we need more troops on the ramparts to deal with Trump and his minions is a forgone conclusion, one that necessitates our prompt attention to One Big Ugly Bill.