Opinion: The health care emergency behind the government shutdown
A guard officer enters the Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego emergency entrance in File photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego Wellbeing care access in this country is in grave danger and your wallet could be too Those facts are key to understanding the latest governing body shutdown My kids have fitness care through Medicaid which is especially pivotal for my daughter with autism Alexis Cortes a mom of four explained me But the One Big Beautiful Bill calls for massive cuts to Medicaid food assistance and early childhood instruction programs she warns Also at issue are the million Americans who benefit from the soon-to-expire tax credits that help them afford their fitness coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace Around million of those affected live in California When Republicans passed their tax cuts for billionaires and corporations in this summer s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill they intentionally left out renewing this credit that helps regular people afford fitness care As a effect according to KFF Wellness not only could the million ACA users see a doubling of their premium costs but the greater part Americans could see their premiums rise if this tax credit isn t renewed Coupled with the over trillion that the GOP bill gutted from Medicaid in order to fund those massive tax giveaways to billionaires Americans are about to experience key reductions in their access to fitness coverage long-term care nursing home care and hospital care especially in rural areas This is what s at stake with the current administration shutdown on Capitol Hill The Republican majority is trying to pass a stop-gap spending measure that sustains President Trump s mass firings of residents servants maintains his freeze on nearly half a trillion dollars meant for our communities and keeps their cuts to everything from coaching to strength care food assistance novice loans and even cancer research Specific lawmakers want to stop this calamity from happening The Democrats have a counterproposal to fund the executive that restores this healthcare care funding keeps costs under control for families already grappling with high costs of living and prohibits illegally freezing appropriated funds But with Republican majorities in the House and Senate the Democrats proposal hasn t been able to pass Nearly of Americans including largest part Trump supporters agree with Alexis telling pollsters they want lawmakers to restore those expiring ACA credits Unfortunately President Trump is disingenuously claiming that Democrats aren t agreeing to the massive fitness care cuts because they want to spend taxpayer dollars on undocumented immigrants instead This is untrue Undocumented immigrants pay taxes but aren t allowed to get cabinet robustness care benefits Period The president and his allies are telling this lie in an effort to gut your fitness care Trump is also vowing to use the ruling body shutdown as an opportunity to enact mass federal worker firings and to deny funds to states that voted against him That means blue states including plenty of red and purple communities inside them are being denied funds for projects like building roads and bridges as a form of punishment Trump also instructed that the email signatures of leadership employees blame Democrats for the cabinet shutdown The administration has posted similar false and partisan messages on chosen executive branch agency websites Together these measures may violate at least four federal laws against misappropriating or freezing federal funds or spending them on partisan activity including the Anti-Deficiency Act the Hatch Act the Anti-Lobbying Act and the Impoundment Control Act Meanwhile families like Alexis s are scared and struggling wondering how they will be able to care for their families when their wellbeing coverage vanishes or becomes unaffordable The of us who object to defunding our families and communities just so the rich can get richer need to make our voices heard The sooner we do the sooner the executive can reopen and our families can receive the care and services we need Karen Dolan directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty Project at the Institute for Plan Studies This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords org
