Making our Voices Heard
May 28, 2026
With affordable health care under assault from the extremist Republican administration’s billionaire tax cuts, 1199ers are fighting back and calling on their state governments to plug the funding gap.
Ever since Congress passed the Trump administration’s Big Ugly bill last summer, 1199 members have been raising the alarm about the potentially devastating impacts to their families, patients and communities across all 1199SEIU regions. In order to pay for massive tax giveaways for the ultra-rich—and dramatically increase funding for ICE enforcement—the federal legislation is set to rip away roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid dollars. That is money on which most 1199ers jobs depend and that secures the care for the most vulnerable in society.
At press time, Governor Kathy Hochul had put significant investments in healthcare on the table and pledged a “Pied à Terre” tax on people with second homes in New York City worth more than $5 million. This tax is set to bring in more than half a billion dollars of revenue.
For 1199 Home Care members, this money is desperately needed to shore up the Medicaid funding that pays for their care of seniors and disabled New Yorkers.
Blanca Graniela, an 1199 Delegate who works as a Hospice Aide with the Best Care agency in the Bronx told her fellow members in the arena:
“I work with your grandfather, your grandmother, your mothers and fathers. I am the last hand who feeds them; who gives them pride, energy, medication, food and makes sure they can stand on their own two feet. If they cannot stand, talk or eat, I am their hands, their ears and their eyes.”
– Milka Exantus, MA Delegate and PCA
Another Delegate, Gracie Kavanah, who is an RN at Planned Parenthood, added:
“We have a mission to provide health care for anyone who needs our care, regardless of their ability to pay. But right now, that care is under attack and we are facing cuts to Medicaid that would rip health care away from so many people who need it.”
Stephanie Ezak, a Physical Therapist and 1199 Delegate at Schofield Residence in Buffalo, NY, spoke at a Code Red rally in her city with her NYS Assembly representative, Jon Rivera.
“If the state fails to address the federal cuts, inadequate staffing, wages, benefits and difficult working conditions in nursing homes, things will only continue to get worse.”
1199ers also rallied in Carthage, NY, near the Canadian border, and in Rochester, where Dana Allison, a PCT Delegate at Strong Memorial Hospital said:
“When funding is cut, services may become limited, wait times increase, and fewer healthcare professionals are available to provide the care our community needs. This can lead to delayed treatment, worsening chronic conditions, and increased hospitalizations—ultimately increasing healthcare costs in the long run.”
In Maryland, members successfully campaigned for the Safe Staffing Act of 2026, which Governor Wes Moore signed with 1199ers present.
Houda Ait-Rais, an EVS Delegate at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore testified in the MD General Assembly in favor of the bill, saying:
“We may not be considered clinical staff, but nothing in a hospital can function if the facility isn’t clean. And truthfully, every other department in the hospital is short-staffed, too. We are all overworked and exhausted, which hurts patient care.
This bill is not just a policy, it is protection. It is respect. It is a chance for workers like me to do our jobs safely and for patients to receive the care they deserve.”
A little further north, in New Jersey, the 1199 budget ask included a direct care wage passthrough of $1 an hour to fund wage increases for CNAs, LPNs, and other workers, including accountability measures to ensure that every dollar reaches workers, not administrative profit. Members are also preparing to launch a statewide campaign to demand better enforcement of NJ’s CNA staffing ratio law that members fought hard over many years to win, but remains ignored by too many employers.
Milka Exantus, an MA Delegate and PCA, called on Governor Healey to restore the threatened cuts, saying:
“You must see our struggle not as a statistic, but as real life. We come to you not only as citizens, but as neighbors, caregivers, and community members who are sounding the alarm. Right now, in Boston and beyond, our community is in crisis. Families are choosing between medicine and food. We owe our elders respect and dignity.”
In Florida, healthcare workers helped stop Tallahassee’s big ugly bill 2.0—legislation that could have worsened the staffing, care, and retention crisis in Florida hospitals and nursing homes. Healthcare workers and all Floridians are breathing a temporary sigh of relief since HB 693 did not advance out of committee during the 2026 legislative session.
Dubbed the Big Beautiful Healthcare Frontier Act—modeled after Trump’s Big Ugly Bill—it called for restricting health care, SNAP eligibility, and eliminating a certificate of need for nursing homes which would have put facilities and care at risk. Another bill, SB 1758, which included onerous work requirements for Medicaid recipients, died in the Senate.
At press time the legislature was expected to reconvene to finalize and approve the state budget and address property taxes and congressional redistricting.
Amy Runkle, a CNA at Bay Breeze Health & Rehabilitation in Venice, Florida, said:
“It’s a shame so many politicians in Tallahassee and Washington work only to benefit their billionaire friends, but we can put our communities and families first if we speak up, stay united, and fight.”
“Right now, in Boston and beyond, our community is in crisis. Families are choosing between medicine and food. We owe our elders respect and dignity.”
– Milka Exantus