1199ers from every region are speaking truth to power about the real world consequences of deep cuts to Medicaid.

As crippling cuts to Medicaid funding which are the only way the Republicans can pay for their planned tax breaks for billionaires are being threatened in Washington D.C., 1199ers from all regions are lobbying their lawmakers and taking to the streets to raise the alarm.

Members of the largest private sector union in the country are keenly aware of what these planned cuts to the Medicaid lifeline would mean for the lives of working people.

Christina Otero, an 1199 Delegate from Western New York, gave testimony before the Steering and Policy Hearing on Medicaid on Capitol Hill on March 6 about her nephew, William.

Her testimony was featured on the Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC. She said: “Sadly, William. was born with several complications. He’s autistic, non-verbal and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. He also has a shunt implant. That shunt aids in draining excess fluid from his brain.”

Otero, an Entitlement Coordinator at the Alba de Vida, chemical dependency treatment facility in Buffalo, added: “Dr Paul Farmer once said that if healthcare is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to have it?

Holding up a photo of her nephew at the hearing, she asked tearfully: “Is William human enough to have that right?”

Republican lawmakers have put $880 billion in Medicaid funding on the chopping block, meaning that the healthcare that William and millions of other Americans depend upon, is now at risk.

Medicaid is the largest and most important health insurance program in the country, covering the majority of home care services and five in eight nursing home residents. More than one third of children and nearly half of all pregnant women rely on the program, in addition to millions of people with disabilities, seniors and low-income working families. Republican lawmakers claim they need to make drastic cuts to Medicaid to combat “waste, fraud and abuse.” 1199ers joined fellow healthcare members in SEIU who traveled to Washington D.C. from all over the country on March 26 to visit their Republican congressional representative and tell them face-to-face why they do not believe their excuses.

Susan Campbell, an 1199 Food Service Aide at Eger Healthcare nursing home on Staten Island said she had voted for Republican Nicole Malliotakis twice, “but I won’t be doing it again if the Medicaid cut goes through. $880 billion to cut from Medicaid funding is absurd.”

Another Republican voter, James Streitenberger, an 1199 Lab Assistant at HCA Trinity in Florida’s Pascoe County, said:

“I have a background in mental health treatment, so I know that people who can’t get insurance, can’t get appointments and then can’t get medications. They will end up being stuck in our jails for no reason because people won’t understand why the patient is acting the way they do. Family members will have to go through this traumatic experience with them and their kids. Medicaid cuts will not only affect us, but our patients and the people we love.”

At the Union headquarters on March 17, Bronx home care Delegate, Ana Medina, described her own experiences at a Medicaid Teach-in attended by the House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“I’m a cancer survivor,” said Medina, “Without Medicaid, I wouldn’t have had access to the medication and care I needed to fight for my life. And today, I still depend on it.”

Home care, too, is largely funded by Medicaid, she added: “Without it, the people I care for, the seniors who have worked their whole lives, the disabled individuals who deserve independence, and the families trying to keep their loved ones at home, what happens to them? Where will they go?”

In Florida, 1199ers shared stories about how Medicaid cuts would hurt their patients and loved ones with Congressmen Maxwell Frost on March 21. Janice Nichols, 1199 CNA who works in an Orlando rehabilitation facility. “It was great meeting our Congressman and knowing that we have someone in Washington on our side fighting for things that are essential to Florida families and workers. People are truly scared of dangerous cuts to life-saving healthcare because a few billionaires want even more tax breaks.”

Members in Manhattan took to the streets alongside fellow labor union members, political activists and community groups on March 15, united against the proposed $2 trillion cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, housing and food assistance, education, and other vital programs.

The march kicked off with a rally in Foley Square before making its way to Wall Street, where members staged a “die-in” in front of the Stock Exchange.

Andrea Fraser, an 1199er who works in the Dietary department at the Park Gardens Rehab and Nursing Center in the Riverdale section of the Bronx said that Medicaid funds most of the nursing homes in New York City.

“It was important to make our voices heard in front of Wall Street. We can’t let them take away the benefits that working people have earned through years of struggle.”