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California residents, caregivers and healthcare advocates will rally Tuesday at dozens of hospitals across the state, including several in the Bay Area, to protest a proposal made Sunday by congressional Republicans for cuts and changes to Medicaid.
The changes are part of President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” a sweeping legislative package introduced by House Republicans this month.
The rally in Oakland will kick off on Tuesday at noon at the Wilma Chan Highland Hospital and concurrent local rallies will occur between 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at San Joaquin General Hospital, Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, UCSF Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy.
The Medicaid section would enact stricter eligibility and citizenship verifications, tighten reimbursements to providers and cut some Medicaid funding to states that offer coverage to undocumented residents.
There is also a push to add a work requirement for able-bodied adults aged 19 to 64 without dependents. It would demand they work 80 hours per month or perform 80 hours of community service. Exceptions would go to pregnant women and some short-term hardship cases.
The Tuesday rally is organized by Fight for Your Health, a coalition of dozens of nonprofits that advocate for a diversity of communities, but is primarily led by Health Access California, Service Employees International Union California and California Pan Ethnic Health Network.
The group’s website said the bill will reduce the proportion of funding the federal government provides to states that expanded coverage to low-wage workers under the Affordable Care Act.
“Californians at risk of losing care are those earning less than $20k for one person or $40k for a family of four, who don’t receive coverage from their employer and aren’t paid enough to buy their own insurance,” the site said. The group estimates that five million Californians will have to turn to the emergency room for care, causing hospitals and clinics to lose billions of dollars and risk closing.
The organizations and congressional Democrats say the plan is another attempt to cut the Affordable Care Act and will gut $880 billion from Medicaid before Memorial Day. According to a preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over the decade.
A statement from Fight for Our Health points to a University of California, Berkeley Labor Center study that estimates cuts would result in California losing 217,0000 jobs. The group sites a survey from top Trump pollster McLaughlin & Associates that found 78% of Trump supporters in battleground districts favor Medicaid and 81% of Americans oppose the cuts.
“California hospitals — especially those in Republican Congressional districts — heavily rely on Medicaid funding. Many of the hardest hit facilities are in the CA districts of Republican members of Congress who have voted to move this plan forward — more than $5.6 billion is at risk in their districts alone,” the statement said.
— Story by Ruth Dusseault, Bay City News
The proposals are not Medicaid cuts, regardless of the narrative this story is trying to push. These are proposed changes to cut the waste, fraud and grift within our bloated and poorly functioning Medicaide system.