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Amid expected Senate vote on Trump’s megabill, advocates say terminating health care for cancer patients, veterans, small business owners and farmers is cruel, not “beautiful;” demand House Republicans halt cuts & higher health costs for working families

Fly-by-night plan aims to keep constituents in the dark, forcing the budget plan through before representatives have to face their constituents at home in their districts

Sacramento, CA – As the U.S. Senate rushes to vote on a federal budget proposal that deepens devastating cuts to Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in California), U.S. Senator Alex Padilla joined California elected officials, doctors, and community health advocates to decry the deadly impacts on Californians’ health care and demand that House Republicans stop the bill in its tracks.   

“Congress should be focused on making health care more affordable for working families — for people fighting cancer, seniors in nursing homes, children, farmers, and veterans. But instead, Senate Republicans are tripping over themselves to pass Trump’s cruel tax cuts for the wealthy, paid for with more than a trillion dollars in Medicaid cuts,” said U.S. Senator Alex Padilla. “This proposal would terminate care for 15 million Californians — including 5 million children — and put lives at risk. There’s nothing ‘beautiful’ about this budget. It’s a calculated attack on the poor and working class, and I urge my Republican colleagues to vote NO.”

Trump is demanding that congressmembers cancel their Summer recess if necessary to vote on his package of multi-trillion dollar tax giveaways to the wealthy, paid for by deep spending cuts to health care and food aid for working class families. He wants House Republicans to vote on the plan before hearing from constituents when they are home in their districts, knowing two-thirds of the American public opposes it. 

Last month, House Republicans voted on significant health care cuts; and the Senate plan makes even more deadly and devastating cuts specifically aimed at wrecking health care in blue states like California. The Senate’s version of the budget bill would:

• Terminate health care for 16 million Americans, including veterans, workers in low-wage jobs, and parents caring for children.
• Cost thousands of lives in California each year.  
• Push hospitals to the brink of closure and cause longer wait times in emergency rooms.
• Raise health care costs and force more families into tens of thousands of dollars of medical debt.

“Republicans in Congress are trying to hide the ball from the American people. Let’s call it what it really is – One Big Health Care Cut,” said Amanda McAllister-Wallner, Executive Director of Health Access California. “Millions of Californians will lose their health care coverage, and millions more will see spikes in their costs, longer wait times at their ERs, and possibly the closure of their local hospital. A few billionaires and CEOs will make a windfall, and thousands of Californians across the state will pay with their lives. Representatives like David Valadao and Young Kim have the power to stop it and vote NO.”  

“As a primary care doctor, I see Medi-Cal save lives in rural communities everyday,” said California State Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains (AD-35). “My patients depend on Medi-Cal to keep our local clinic and hospital doors open. Seniors and people with disabilities rely on it for the basic dignity of showering and eating dinner at home. Republicans in Congress call that a wasteful luxury. They want to shut down rural hospitals, layoff healthcare workers and strip vulnerable seniors of medical care to pay for new tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk. Their cruelty will kill some of my patients. I took a hippocratic oath not to let that happen.”

“Senate Republicans have done the unconscionable, deepening the House’s proposed cuts by more than $400 billion dollars – terminating health care for even more people and putting more lives at risk” Jim Mangia, President and CEO, St John’s Community Health. “Cutting health care for low-income Californians to fund tax breaks for the ultra wealthy is a betrayal of our nation’s values, and a death sentence for our neighbors and loved ones.”

“Preventative and routine visits to the doctor keeps kids safe and healthy, so that they can go to school and play, just as kids should be able to do,” said Shannon Udovic-Constant, MD, President, California Medical Association. “But Medicaid cuts being debated in Washington, DC put that access to care at risk for millions. These are not just numbers on a page, they’re actions that will result in doctor office closures, increased emergency room wait times, and limited services in rural and underserved communities.”

“Workers are the backbone of our nation’s economy, and critical to the fabric of our communities, but instead of supporting working class families – Congressional Republicans want to cut over $1 trillion dollars from our healthcare,” said Arnulfo De La Cruz, President, SEIU Local 2015. “Working families, caregivers, people with disabilities, and seniors will suffer from this deadly blow to our entire healthcare system, facing rising health care costs, long emergency room wait times, hospital and clinic closures, and job loss in the healthcare industry, all to make wealthy CEOs and powerful corporations even richer. That is just not fair, and it is why we are demanding our Republican representatives here in California vote NO on these deadly healthcare cuts.”