Blog
It’s Time to Stop the Healthcare Heist
08. 06. 2026
Last week was the 61st anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, so for the vast majority of my life, these programs have been a lifeline for millions of Americans.
As families now struggle to cover healthcare and basic essentials, we can and should do better to guarantee everyone affordable healthcare. However, last summer, instead of building on the promise of Medicare and Medicaid, Republicans in Congress passed the largest healthcare cuts in history to pay for enormous tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. One year later, more than 6 million Americans have lost their healthcare as a result. Worse, the Trump administration is now creating harsh new rules that will rip Medicaid away from millions more and end a Medicare program that has kept drug coverage costs down for seniors.
Economic Security Project Action (ESPA) held a press conference with Doctors for America and Unrig the Economy to amplify the devastating impact of these cuts, where I had the privilege of speaking alongside Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ron Wyden – staunch champions for universal healthcare.
We then heard Toni Brinegar’s story. She’s an Idaho mom whose son Antahn relies on Medicaid for in-home care. After he endured numerous surgeries and was struggling to survive, she and her husband decided they had no choice but to “love him back to health.”
As a mom, I was nearly moved to tears, and as an advocate, I was enraged that someone who was literally giving her soul for her son’s care now faces losing the programs that keep her afloat.
There are many stories like theirs. We heard from Jennifer K. Graham Partyka, a Scranton ER nurse whose son depends on Medicaid to manage a chronic illness; Atlanta-based primary care physician Dr. Kreena Patel who talked about the impact of these healthcare cuts on her patients no matter what they look like or who they voted for; and Dr. Dan Skinner, who teaches health policy, all of whom underscored a dire, urgent truth: Medicaid cuts are crushing American families and destroying our health system as we know it.
I’ve been an advocate for a long time, and this moment feels especially intense. The stories we heard at the presser were just part one of ESPA’s “Stop the Healthcare Heist” Medicaid Day of Action.
In partnership, 61 co-sponsors hosted events across the country to hold accountable lawmakers who voted to cut Medicaid. Local groups held a rally outside Rep. David Valadao’s office in California’s Central Valley, a march through Rep. Jen Kiggan’s district in Virginia Beach, and delivered a Medicare/Medicaid birthday card to Rep. Gabe Evans in Colorado, hanging banners for visibility and more.
By sharing their life stories, Americans across the country reminded us what’s at stake, and who’s to blame for the healthcare cuts that have left many of us worse off. We will keep working to expose the catastrophic impacts of GOP votes that cut healthcare to pay for billionaire tax breaks. Come November, the vast majority of people who oppose these outrageous actions should vote to change course.