Community clinic workers from across California are back in Sacramento today with a warning for state senators and assemblymembers: We can’t afford to lose Medicaid!

Every SEIU member will be affected by Medicaid cuts. It will take all of us – every local in red states and blue, every member leader, and every staff person — to win this fight to protect Medicaid. Fully 40% of California residents rely on it for their healthcare, and it pays for the services so many SEIU members provide.

It funds the jobs of healthcare workers who care for our loved ones in hospitals, nursing homes, and through home care. Federal Medicaid funding, which covers half of Medi-Cal expenses, plays a major role in state budgets and supportive services you may not even know about – like special education, care for foster kids, and mental health services.

“Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) like ours provide so many services to our community. People come to us for everything from family care, dental, and behavioral health care to substance use treatment, nutrition, optometry, and more,” said Rosa Gregorio, case manager at Salud Clinic in West Sacramento, at a rally outside the capitol. 

“So, like many of you, when I heard about the cuts that are on the table right now, I was overwhelmed with fear. First and foremost, fear for our patients. I’ve already had many conversations with patients who have told me that they don’t know what they will do if they lose the lifeline of Medi-Cal. I have to admit, I’m not sure I know what to tell them.” 

The critical lifeline remains under attack after last week, when on Tuesday, Feb. 25, House members narrowly voted (217-215) to approve the budget resolution that would chart the course for at least $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid. This budget would rip healthcare from millions of Americans in order to pay for further tax cuts to billionaires and corporations.

This budget blueprint shows the plans of extremists in Congress: They want to take healthcare away from working families and scapegoat the poor and the disproportionately high number of people of color who rely on Medicaid.

Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in the country, providing healthcare to more than 83 million people, including nearly 40% of our nation’s children and over 8 in 10 children in poverty. Medicaid covers one in five Americans, including nearly half of children with special needs, 5 in 8 nursing home residents. Over 40% of births in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid. Learn more about Medicaid here from Kaiser Family Foundation here.