Press Release
ICYMI: Senators, doctors, and Medicaid families condemn Republican healthcare cuts during “Stop the Healthcare Heist” Day of Action
08. 03. 2026
ESPA, Doctors for America, and Unrig Our Economy held a press conference highlighting the devastating impact of Republican-led healthcare cuts
WASHINGTON – Last summer, Republicans in Congress passed the largest healthcare cuts in U.S. history to pay for enormous tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. One year later, over 6 million Americans have lost their healthcare as a result. Further, the Trump administration is now creating harsh new Medicaid rules that will rip coverage away from millions more and end a Medicare program that kept drug coverage costs down for seniors.
On the 61st anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare, Economic Security Project Action (ESPA) and co-hosts, Doctors for America and Unrig the Economy, featured firsthand accounts from members of Congress, healthcare workers, and Medicaid families worried about their loved ones’ care at a press conference. A full recording of the event is HERE.
The press conference was part of ESPA’s “Stop the Healthcare Heist” Medicaid Day of Action featuring 61 co-sponsors who hosted dozens of events across the country targeting 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 much more.
Speakers from last week’s press conference are available for interviews upon request. Jen Partyka and Toni Brinegar are available to discuss the personal impact of Medicaid cuts and harsh new rules on their families. Dr. Kreena Patel and health policy expert Dan Skinner, PhD, are available to discuss the impact of Medicaid cuts on patients, healthcare providers, and the broader healthcare system. Additional Medicaid storytellers are also available, including Colleen Woodward and Jeff Due of Nebraska, where Medicaid work requirements have been implemented early, and Rebecca Reed, a Medicaid enrollee currently battling breast cancer.
Key excerpts from the press conference are below. For more information regarding the Day of Action events, or to speak with any of our guest panelists, please email [email protected].
“In [Oregon], 27,000 fewer adults and children have Medicaid since Republicans passed their record-breaking cuts,” said Senator Ron Wyden. “Across the state, particularly in rural areas, doctors, clinics, and hospitals are feeling the financial squeeze. And I’m telling you, I just came from six town hall meetings at home in rural communities where Donald Trump won 70% of the vote, and those healthcare providers, particularly hospitals, are just trying to figure out how in the world they’re going to keep their doors open with all these cuts.”
“[Republicans] created a ticking time bomb where the big explosion doesn’t happen until after the election, after they can be held accountable,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen. “We all need to hold people accountable now as part of our effort to shine a light on what happened and build momentum for reversing the damage that’s being done now and the even greater damage that will kick in beginning on January 1st.”
“With HR1, billionaires got richer and Americans got sicker,” said Anna Aurilio, Vice President of Economic Security Project Action. “When so many families are struggling just to put food on the table and keep the lights on, we should be strengthening our healthcare lifeline. Instead, Republicans gutted Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and put the future of Medicare at risk. And earlier this week, despite promising not to touch Medicare, President Trump raised drug costs for millions of seniors under Medicare Part D.”
“My son’s finances are reviewed frequently to make sure he still qualifies [for Medicaid] and I just want to counter the idea that waste, fraud, and abuse is a thing,” said Jen Graham Partyka, a Pennsylvania nurse whose son relies on Medicaid to manage a chronic condition. “It simply does not exist on the patient’s side. My son receives medically necessary lifesaving support for a fatal illness and serves our northeastern Pennsylvania community in a job he loves.”
“Physicians and patients already have to jump through hoops, and we’re going to have to jump through even more to prove that our patients are sick enough to deserve their care,” said Dr. Kreena Patel, a primary care physician in Georgia. “As someone whose job has been, first and foremost, to care for the person in front of me, I don’t care who you are, what you look like, how you voted. You are a human and you deserve care. And now that is going to be cut from so many of my patients.”
“Medicaid has been the backbone of [my son’s] life,” said Toni Brinegar, an Idaho mom of Anton, a man with severe disabilities. “It has gotten him lifesaving medication for his seizure disorder, in-home care so that I could have a break, and for him to be able to do things like physical therapy. People with disabilities want to do everything that everyone else does. They just need a little more help, and Medicaid is the only option for him.”
“The Trump administration is going to end a Biden-era program that limited the cost of premiums for Medicare drug coverage,” said Dr. Dan Skinner, a professor of health policy at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This is a huge, huge hit on seniors. This is just the latest sign that the administration is not taking the affordability crisis that seniors are facing seriously, and actively contributing to it.”
Economic Security Project Action (ESPA) mobilizes resources and people behind ideas that build economic power for all Americans. As an ideas advocacy organization, we legitimize our issues by supporting cutting edge research and elevating champions, win concrete policy victories for the communities that need to see change now, and provoke the conventional wisdom to shift what’s considered possible. Our team of academics, organizers, practitioners and culture makers disburse grants, run issue campaigns, develop creative interventions and research products to support the field, and coordinate events to encourage investment and action from others.
Doctors for America (DFA) is a national nonprofit that mobilizes over 42,000 physicians and medical trainees to advocate for policies that improve the health of patients and communities. Through advocacy training and action at the state and federal levels, DFA works to expand access to affordable care, strengthen community health and prevention efforts, and advance health justice and equity. We do not accept funding from pharmaceutical, insurance, or for-profit health care entities, ensuring our work remains fiercely independent and patient-centered. DFA puts patients over politics—and over profits.
Unrig Our Economy is a national campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, their wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable.