Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) joined hundreds of health care workers, nurses, advocates, patients, and seniors at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, to rally to stop the Republican health care bill that could be voted on in the Senate in coming weeks.
As Senate Republicans use the 4th of July weekend to try and drum up support for the “cruel and dangerous” bill, Californians are speaking out at community events and Independence Day parades to pressure members of the House to stop Trumpcare 3.0 should it return to the lower house for a vote.
This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office announced the results of its analysis which found 22 million Americans will lose healthcare under the Senate Bill, with 4-5 million likely to join the ranks of the uninsured in California alone. The Senate Bill slashes Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California) by 26 percent, devastating the healthcare system one in three Californians count on, including children, people with disabilities, seniors and people who work but earn far too little to afford insurance. It was recently discovered that after 2027, Medicaid would be cut even more, reducing funding for the program by a staggering 35 percent.
The California Department of Health Care Services reports that the senate bill will cost California $30 billion annually, significantly more than the health care repeal bill passed by the House of Representatives.
The most vulnerable Californians are those most at risk under Trumpcare. The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Senate’s “Medicaid Cuts May Force Retirees Out of Nursing Homes.”
Californians who are left with insurance after the legislation would see their premiums soar and their share of costs rise, while the cuts to healthcare for the poorest Americans would directly pay for tax cuts for the richest families like Donald Trump’s.
Online supporters joined in by using the hashtags #Fight4OurHealth and #ProtectOurCare
The Fight for Our Health Coalition, co-chaired by Health Access and SEIU California, includes more than 150 organizations across California representing patients, providers, women, seniors, children, LGBTQ, veterans, and faith groups advocating against efforts to strip health care coverage from millions of Americans. To date, the coalition has held more than 75 events in California since November 2016.
