Members from Downstate New York came together on December 1 in Manhattan to advocate, organize, and strategize for the Medicaid funding fightback they are about to wage in Albany.

Following the drastic cuts to Medicaid that Republican extremists in Washington, DC plan to impose in order to pay for tax cuts for the billionaire class, 1199ers recognize that they have a battle on their hands.

In order to stabilize the industry and shield New Yorkers from the harms imposed by Washington, members will need to press state leaders to allocate $2 billion to replace missing federal funding in financial year 2026–27. That means engaging at least 20 percent of the New York membership in the campaign.

“Working as a Medical Assistant in pediatrics, almost all of the children I see rely on Medicaid for their healthcare,” said Shatenyaer Pitt, an 1199 member who works at Advanced Care Physicians in Queens. “My supervisor said if all the planned federal cuts come in, we will all be out of a job. We have already seen soft layoffs, with people who work on the front desk not being replaced when they leave.”

Toni Whyte, an 1199 Community Health Worker at an outpatient facility of Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital in the Bronx, agreed that almost all of her patients rely on Medicaid. She helps identify their non-medical concrete needs related to housing, transportation, and food.

“Many people here are living in low-quality housing infested with rats and mold. Asthma is very common,” said Whyte.

She has been a union member for the past 10 years, but before that she relied on Medicaid when her daughter was born prematurely at 30 weeks. “She had to have a lot of surgeries, and I don’t know if she would have lived if it hadn’t been for Medicaid. Now she is 15 years old and doing fine.”

Whyte is very committed to the campaign to press decision-makers in the state capital to replace federal Medicaid funds and plans to get the 1199 bus up to Albany for the first lobby visit on January 12.

Another Bronx member is Blanca Graniela, who is a home care worker with Best Care and also a Hospice Aide. She took part in the 2022 fight to convince New York State to fund a $3-an-hour wage increase for home care workers, which amounted to a 20 percent boost.

“I am ready to lobby Albany lawmakers once again. So many of us who work in this field are women of color. I am a proud Puerto Rican woman, and I deserve fair pay and benefits, and I will continue to fight so that my granddaughters can have a better life too.”