Karianne Martus: “This bill is not about balancing the budget. It’s not about cutting waste or rooting out fraud. What this bill is really about is prioritizing the interest of billionaire donors and corporate backers who fund political campaigns over the needs of the very people these politicians were elected to serve.”
Today, frontline American voices, including families and workers, participated in a press call hosted by Defend America Action to outline the real-world consequences that Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ draconian health care and food assistance cuts will have on them and their communities, and urged their representatives to reverse course and protect these crucial programs.
Speakers on the call highlighted how the Trump-backed Republican budget, which the U.S. Senate passed earlier today, could spell disaster for them, their families, and the people they work with every day.
“This bill is not about balancing the budget. It’s not about cutting waste or rooting out fraud. What this bill is really about is prioritizing the interest of billionaire donors and corporate backers who fund political campaigns over the needs of the very people these politicians were elected to serve,” said Katrina Manetta, family member of a Medicaid recipient. “This bill would enact the largest Medicaid cuts in history. It would kick 17 million Americans off their insurance, shut down clinics and rural hospitals, and gut support for the people who need it most: children, disabled people, seniors, and working families who are barely getting by.”
“One of the best tools that we’ve had for addressing the need for food in our community is with SNAP EBT. SNAP EBT gives a dollar to dollar match up to $20 to help put fresh fruits and vegetables on their family’s table,” said Karianne Martus, manager of the Flint Farmer’s Market. “We know that those are good for families. It’s important for nutrition, but it also helps our agriculture community. It reinvests in our small businesses and allowing those things to happen at farmers markets, helps the business community in addition to providing better food.”
“This horrible bill that they passed is going to dramatically impact our family as it adds another horrible uncertainty to the future as we look towards trying to plan what [our daughters] future would look like,” said Lori Janke, VA employee and mother of a Medicaid recipient. “And I’m not the only family locally, or even statewide or nationally, that this impacts. This bill is going to impact you, despite the fact that you don’t have a disability, or your children do not.”
“With these cuts, essentially 51,000 people per year will die a preventative death. What does that translate to? In 10 years, half a million Americans will die from a preventative thing, because we took health care away,” said Dr. Anahita Dua, health care provider. “And one in three people are insured by Medicaid. So what happens when you take that away and those people can no longer come to the hospital, that means that money is not coming to the hospital. So what happens to them? They close.”
BACKGROUND
THE GOP BUDGET SLASHES HEALTH CARE AND FOOD ASSISTANCE TO PAY FOR TAX BREAKS FOR BILLIONAIRES: Congressional Republicans have voted for an unpopular, unaffordable tax break for the wealthiest people in the country, and they’re paying for it by raising costs, taking away health care, and slashing school lunches for working families.
- COSTS GOING UP WHILE BILLIONAIRE TAXES GO DOWN: House Democrats released a nonpartisan CBO analysis confirming Republicans’ plan will raise health care costs for working families and take away Medicaid from millions of people, all to pay for a massive tax break for the ultra-wealthy.
- THE GOP BUDGET WILL SLASH HEALTH CARE ACCESS FOR AMERICANS: Republicans’ budget will kick an estimated 16 million Americans off health care in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires – even though less than 15 percent of voters support cuts to Medicaid.
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- This bill works to remove as many Medicaid recipients as possible under the guise of “work requirements.” In reality, virtually all Medicaid recipients work.
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- Trump’s tax scam eliminates premium tax credits and hiking premiums for the 24 million Americans who buy insurance on their own through ACA Marketplaces, nearly doubling premiums on average for 22 million Americans.
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- Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) disproportionately serve children and young adults:
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- Half of all Medicaid enrollees — 35 million young Americans — are under 26.
- Nearly 40 percent of ACA plan enrollees are under 34.
- Medicaid covers 41 percent of births in the United States, and around half of all births are to women under 30.
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- Children and young adults face the highest poverty rates of any age group.
- FOOD ASSISTANCE SLASHED: Republicans’ budget cuts free and reduced-cost school meals, Meals on Wheels and the nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children. They’re putting food assistance at risk for over 7 million American households with children under 18 across the country.
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- This bill amounts to the largest cuts to food assistance in history. Republicans’ bill will also enact new unnecessary burdens for older Americans and families with children applying for basic needs programs, while freezing future benefit increases that help households adjust to rising food costs.
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