Healthcare workers, union leaders, community advocates and several elected officials gathered in Buffalo Friday morning to call on New York State legislators to offset $2 billion healthcare funding lost to federal cuts.
Members of their coalition, which they’ve named WNY Code Red, say the $1.7 trillion dollars in cuts to healthcare in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” threaten the healthcare of at least 17 million Americans, including an estimated 1.5 million New Yorkers.
“We are here today to say that the state needs to step up and step in,” said Todd Hobler, 1199 SEIU Executive Vice-President for Upstate New York. “We're not going to let the GOP Congress off the hook. But we need in this budget cycle, New York State to fund health care in a way that provides good quality, accessible health care to every Western New Yorker.”
Frontline healthcare professionals and the unions representing them say their peers are already stretched beyond reasonable working limits, and federal cuts make them worse. That, they say, hurts patients in turn.
Healthcare executives present to join in their call, also express concern for patience, including those who rely on Medicaid.
Dr. Steven Turkovich, president of Golisano Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, says 60 percent of their patience are enrolled in Medicaid.
“As we know, the medical, social, mental health and economic challenges facing the families in our community continues to grow,” he said. “Here in the City of Buffalo, nearly 40 percent of our children live in poverty. That's two out of every five children. In Western New York, there are more than 16,000 children with a disability, the vast majority of whom rely on the support and services funded by Medicaid. These children are our neighbors, our friends and family members whose health and wellbeing are directly impacted by the effects of poverty. These children are also our patients.”
Speakers offered some praise for Governor Kathy Hochul, whose budget proposal provides billions to support capital and operational needs of hospitals and nursing homes. They are urging members of the State Senate and Assembly to do more.
One of the legislators in attendance was State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who said she and peers will do their part. But she also urges voters to remember federal cuts during November’s congressional midterm elections, and be more mindful of issues that truly matter. She and other speakers called out two Republicans representing parts of Western New York in Washington, Representatives Nick Langworthy and Claudia Tenney. Peoples-Stokes suggests the voters in their districts, and in other parts of the state, are being sold on campaign platforms that in reality don’t affect them as issues like healthcare and affordability do.
“What we need is for the citizenry to step up when it's time to elect people because, quite honestly, we really shouldn't even be here,” she said. “But some people chose for whatever reason, they weren't concerned about Medicaid. They weren't concerned about the environment. They weren't concerned about affordability. They were concerned about some myth, quite frankly, that doesn't even exist in most communities: public safety, criminal justice issues.”
State Senators April Baskin and Jeremy Zellner also participated, as did Assemblymembers Patrick Burke, Karen McMahon, William Conrad, and Jon Rivera.