“The House budget represents a massive and appalling giveaway to billionaires at the expense of children, seniors, people with disabilities, working families and their healthcare. Florida Republicans should be ashamed of voting for tax breaks for billionaires instead of protecting Medicaid for their constituents. Their vote for the largest Medicaid cut in history — an unprecedented $625 billion – will hurt the people of Florida and our economy.

“The devastation of this budget extends even beyond Medicaid to the Affordable Care Act benefitting millions of Floridians.

“Nearly 4 million Floridians who rely on Medicaid, from children to seniors, would be devastated by the loss of healthcare, nutrition and other essential needs. Public health studies have shown that 45,000 workers would lose their jobs and livelihoods just in Florida with these cuts, and $4.5 billion would be gutted from our state’s economy.

“Healthcare institutions and providers throughout the state would face insurmountable financial challenges, leading to reductions in services, loss of healthcare jobs, and longer wait times.  Hospitals, nursing homes, homecare, outpatient and community-based services will all be impacted. Families will face new bureaucratic hurdles just to maintain the benefits they rely on and many will lose access to vital healthcare services.

“These cuts would also hurt nearly 3 million Floridians who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed their families.

“The healthcare workers of 1199SEIU call on the Senate to reverse these egregious cuts, which Americans overwhelmingly oppose, to avoid devastating consequences to the health and wellbeing of millions of people.”

###

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest union of healthcare workers in Florida and America, representing more than 30,000 active and retired caregivers across the state, with more than 400,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Florida, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Members of 1199SEIU serve in about 80 nursing homes and 30 hospitals in Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.