OAK CREEK, WI – This morning, Protect Our Care’s Care Force One arrived in Oak Creek and was joined by U.S. Representative Gwen Moore and Mitchell Berman, as well as members of Main Street Action as part of the “Sick of It! Fix Health Care Now” bus tour, calling out Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress for taking a wrecking ball to our health care system.
Across the country, hard-working families are fed up with the growing health care crisis after Trump and Republicans like Congressman Bryan Steil slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and gutted Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
During the event, Wisconsinites impacted by Republican cuts to health care called on lawmakers to enact commonsense health care solutions, including restoring tax credits to lower insurance premiums, reversing devastating Medicaid cuts, expanding Medicare’s power to negotiate lower prices for more drugs and extending those lower prices to all Americans with insurance, penalizing drug companies that raise prices faster than inflation, and protecting patients from high costs by extending the annual $2,000 out-of-pocket cap and the $35 insulin co-pay cap to people with private coverage.
“In the famous words of one of our ancestors – Fannie Lou Hammer – I’m just sick and tired of being sick and tired of these Republican members of Congress who themselves have health care – denying health care to millions of people.” said U.S. Representative Gwen Moore .
“I’ve seen what it looks like when people can’t afford care,” said emergency room nurse Mitchell Berman. “We have representatives in Washington who are voting to gut health care to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country. Bryan Steil took over $1 million from the drug and insurance industries and then voted to prevent Medicare from being able to negotiate drug prices to bring drug prices down for our seniors.”
“Nine years ago I walked into the doctor’s office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage four cancer diagnosis,” said Laura Packard, cancer survivor and health care advocate. “Luckily, I had good insurance that paid for the chemotherapy and radiation I needed to survive. But I’m sick of watching Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, like Congressman Bryan Steil, demolish our health care system. Lawmakers need to restore the tax credits that keep premiums affordable, reverse these devastating Medicaid cuts, and make sure people like me can actually afford to survive. Cancer doesn’t wait, and neither should Congress. ”
“Families across this country are sick of it, and they’re making their voices heard loud and clear,” said Protect Our Care Wisconsin Director Joe Zepecki. “Care Force One is hitting the road to put every Republican who voted to gut our health care on notice. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, like Congressman Bryan Steil , rammed through the largest health care cuts in history, slashing more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, and ripping away tax credits to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. They knew exactly what that would do: close hospitals, cause premiums to skyrocket, and make families ration care they can’t afford to skip. What they didn’t count on was how furious people would get once they felt the consequences. We’re bringing this fight to nearly 40 communities over four weeks, and we’re not letting Republicans off the hook. They decimated our health care system to pay for tax cuts for their donors, and this November, they’re going to answer for it.”
Tomorrow, the “Sick of It! Fix Health Care Now” bus tour will continue in La Crosse, WI, where Protect Our Care will be joined by Senator Tammy Baldwin and Rebecca Cooke.
