A group of nurses gathered outside the Corpus Christi office of U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, on July 1 to rally against proposed Medicaid cuts in the GOP’s budget reconciliation package.
The members of National Nurses United, which bills itself as the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, assembled with health care workers and labor movement leaders across the country, targeting the district offices of U.S. representatives and senators who voted for the legislation, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Several members went upstairs to the congressman’s office carrying signs stating that they demand elected representatives for all people and not tax giveaways for the wealthy.
Republicans in the Senate voted to pass the bill on July 1 after spending the weekend in Washington working out the final provisions over the weekend. The bill will now return to the House, which will reconcile the changes to its original version.
It would cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, according to the latest estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“We are gathered here outside the office of our elected representative Michael Cloud to demand that he stand with us and with his constituents and put an end to the assault on our health care as we know it,” said Paul Hirvajosa, a registered nurse. “Right now, there are emergency patients who every day will not get health care without Medicaid coverage.
“If this passes, it will also make it harder for people to find care on the marketplace and strip away health care from nearly 16 million people,” he said. “As patient advocates, nurses cannot stand by quietly while patients are under attack.”
Cloud’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the the nurses’ rally.
The downtown rally drew leaders from local and national chapters of organizations including the Progressives of the Coastal Bend and the Sierra Club. They took turns at the microphone expressing their opposition to the bill, while attendees carried signs and chanted, “Some cuts don’t heal!”
One nurse who attended the rally, Marisa Lugo, has worked in an intensive care unit for more than 20 years. She said that the health of the nation is in critical condition and that the bill underlines the priorities of “billionaires and their allies who are trying to take away health care.”
Teresa Klein, a member of the Coastal Bend Group of the Sierra Club, attended the rally on behalf of the American Association of University Professors. She shared stories of students and faculty at Del Mar College who are on Medicaid, as well as a personal account of her father, a dairy farmer who developed health issues that caused him to spend his savings on medical bills.
“He couldn’t have paid for all of his bills without the support of health care,” she said.
The budget reconciliation bill contains significant changes that would force states to institute work requirements on their Medicaid plans and terminate Medicaid for people who are already enrolled if they cannot document that they meet the requirements.
On Jan. 1, 2029, the bill would require states to deny coverage to people applying for Medicaid if they are not already working or participating in another qualifying activity for at least 80 hours per month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The proposal applies to Medicaid expansion group enrollees from ages 19 to 64 and states that it would exempt caregivers of dependent children, people with disabilities, people who are pregnant and several other groups.
The requirement would greatly impact workers in low-paying jobs who often lack health benefits and rely on Medicaid as a source of coverage, barring people from receiving not only Medicaid, but also subsidies for coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
“I really hope this puts the pressure on Cloud to at least start listening to people and meet with his constituents,” said Gillian Mason, the executive director of Healthcare-NOW, a national organization now based in the Coastal Bend.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Nurses gather at Michael Cloud’s Corpus Christi office to protest proposed Medicaid cuts
Reporting by Katie Nickas, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
