Washington, DC – Speaking today at a press conference, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Doug Jones (D-AL) along with health care advocates and Protect Our Care highlighted the urgent need to protect Medicaid and demand that President Trump end his war on America’s health care. The press conference fell just one day before a key deadline in the Trump Texas lawsuit that would obliterate American health care and rollback Medicaid expansion. The press conference also closed out Medicaid Awareness Month, which has been used as a national call to action by concerned citizens about the importance of Medicaid and the urgent need to stop Republicans and President Trump from sabotaging it.”
“The Trump administration’s assault on the American health care system has reached unprecedented levels,” said U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). “Medicaid is one of the most important and most popular health insurance programs in America today. Americans want Medicaid expansion to continue, and they don’t support the Trump administration trying to use the court system to try to strip away coverage and protections from millions of Americans who so badly need it.”
“This should be a bipartisan issue for all Americans and that’s why I’m proud to be here today,” said U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL). “We need to stop the partisan attacks on people’s health care and focus on the ways that we can improve their lives, that we can grow our economy and strengthen our families and our communities.”
“Medicaid is about our kids, it’s about our seniors and it’s about people with disabilities,” said U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA). “If you’re a Republican politician in the Senate or the House and you don’t oppose cuts to Medicaid, you don’t oppose the Trump lawsuit and you don’t oppose sabotage, don’t tell us you support Medicaid or the health care of our kids or our seniors or our friends with disabilities. We have to make sure we continue to protect and defend Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.”
“For far too long, President Trump and his GOP allies in Congress have sought to sabotage the nation’s health care system with their war on Medicaid,” said Protect Our Care executive director Brad Woodhouse. “As communities and families across the country have been talking about the importance of Medicaid this Medicaid Awareness Month, Republican legislatures and President Trump are actively trying to gut it, hellbent on destroying the program relied on by millions of Americans. We are thankful to have leaders Congress like Senators Jones, Murphy and Casey who are fighting to protect Medicaid and understand just how damaging the Trump administration’s actions to gut it will be for American families.”
“My son Rob has a rare disease and he’s one of 35 million Americans for whom Medicaid has been a lifesaver,” said Jeneva Burroughs Stone, a health care advocate and member of Little Lobbyists. “Before Medicaid, medical bankruptcy was a real possibility for my family and nothing prepares you for the staggering costs of raising a child with complex medicaid needs. Survive and thrive, that’s what Medicaid gave my son and that’s what Little Lobbyists wants for all children with complex medical needs and disabilities.”
“I am alive because of Medicaid, and one of the 65 million plus Americans who has gotten necessary, vital medical care because of it,” said Matthew Cortland, a disabilities rights attorney. “I don’t know what I would do without Medicaid, and I don’t know what I would do to survive if the administration’s lawsuit seeking to destroy the entire Affordable Care Act succeeds. I hope the administration does the right thing and withdraws the lawsuit and the ACA continues to be the law of the land for me and patients like me.”