Editor’s note: This commentary is by Elizabeth Deutsch, RN, who has been a nurse in critical care in Rhode Island and Vermont for more than two decades, and Mari Cordes, RN, who has been a nurse for nearly 30 years in Vermont.
Republicans in Congress have tried time and again to repeal the Affordable Care Act and dismantle Medicaid. And time and again, Vermont families have made it clear that they want more access to affordable care — not less.
But Republicans clearly didn’t get the message. Both the House and Senate tax plans would force cuts to health care for everyday Vermonters to pay for tax breaks for the rich, insurers and big pharmaceutical companies. This is not about balancing competing priorities or making tradeoffs. This is about cutting health care for seniors, veterans, children, people with disabilities, and working families to pay for a huge tax giveaway to the richest people and corporations in our country.
As a nurses, we know that patients will pay dearly if these proposals become law. Patients and their families already struggle to afford the high-quality care they deserve and the medications they need. If Republicans force further cuts to critical health care programs like Medicaid and Medicare, life-saving treatments will be out of reach for millions of patients.
We see patients each week who have received coverage through the ACA, Medicare and/or Medicaid, and without this coverage they wouldn’t have been able to afford the life-sustaining and life-saving treatments their doctors have recommended.
If the GOP succeeds in passing tax bills that pave the way for massive cuts to health care, Vermonters facing similar health crises may not be so lucky. Republicans are planning to cut $473 billion from Medicare and $1 trillion from Medicaid to pay for proposed tax cuts – leaving 125 million Americans, including people with disabilities, the poor, seniors and even children, at risk of losing coverage. Moreover, Senate Republicans want to repeal a key provision of the Affordable Care Act that would leave another 13 million people without coverage and raise rates for up to 7 million people by 10 percent annually.
To be clear, patients like ours aren’t likely to enjoy savings from these tax cuts to make up for the resulting cuts to critical programs that disproportionately impact them. Politifact.com estimates that 80 percent of the GOP tax cuts would benefit the wealthiest 1 percent. Meanwhile, to cover the $1.5 trillion that these tax cuts would add to the national debt, working families will face cuts to key health care programs.
Reducing access to medical services now will increase costs for the patients that I treat – now and in the long term. Without access to care, patients will delay needed treatment and are more likely to seek care at the emergency department, which will only increase costs for everyone.
Slashing Medicaid, Medicare and other critical programs will make life-saving resources and treatment unattainable for millions of families. As a result, thousands of Vermonters — and millions across this country — won’t be able to afford preventative care services or needed medications, increasing the risk that they will require more expensive treatments down the line. Patients will be discharged only to find themselves going back to the emergency room — all because they didn’t receive the care they needed in the first place.
We are appalled that our elected leaders are jeopardizing care for millions to line the pockets of CEOs and big corporate donors. Republicans claim their agenda will benefit every American, but nurses know firsthand that patients lose when health care programs are cut.
We guess politicians in Washington, D.C., never have to see the faces of patients turned away because they can’t afford care. But we do. This is why we have gone to D.C. five times in the past six months to raise up the voice of our patients which members of Congress continue to ignore.
It’s also why we’re not interested in political games. Our top priority is providing quality care so that our patients can get back to their families and their lives — not serving the interests of big corporations or pharmaceutical companies. Instead of slashing health care to cover the cost of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, elected leaders should listen to their constituents and work to expand access to health care so that every American can get the care they need, when they need it.
