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Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen joined community health advocates this week to raise awareness about the devastating impacts the GOP’s Tax bill will have on Long Islanders — just days after House Republicans passed their “big, beautiful” Medicaid cuts to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
While the House GOP rammed through their bill that would gut Medicaid for over 800,000 New Yorkers and slash SNAP benefits for over one million families in the state to give more money to the wealthiest people in the country, Reps. Suozzi and Gillen stood up for their constituents and voted NO on the GOP tax bill.
In case you missed it…
Newsday: Health advocates, Nassau Dems warn Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ will lead to ugly outcomes for Medicaid recipients
- Nassau County Democrats and community health leaders criticized extensive budget cuts to Medicaid they say will leave millions of New Yorkers without health insurance. The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that passed Congress last week.
- The House narrowly passed the bill by one vote last week after seven hours of debate, cutting $700 billion in Medicaid funding over the next 10 years.
- “This is not just numbers. This is not just politics. This has a real-life impact on people,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said at a news conference on Wednesday.
- Suozzi said Wednesday the bill will “blow the biggest deficit” the country has seen.
- Suozzi and Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) voted against the bill, which passed 215-214 last week, alongside every other Democrat in Congress and two Republicans.
- “The cuts in Medicaid are going to make all our health care costs skyrocket,” increasing premiums for those with private insurance, Gillen warned. “Parents are going to say, ‘I don’t need to eat tonight because I have to pay for my child’s prescription.’”
- The bill also cuts $267 billion in funding for food aid, known as the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, over the next 10 years.
- “This is bad for America,” said Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health. The proposed cuts would tank the health care system’s revenue by $370 million, he said, adding that about 1.5 million New Yorkers will lose access to Medicaid.
- Medicaid is the “single largest payer” of behavioral health care in the United States and addiction treatment in New York, said Jeffrey Reynolds, president and CEO of Family and Children’s Association, adding that Long Islanders vulnerable to overdose would be put at risk.
- “Are we a callous, cruel, cold-blooded country?” Dr. Reynolds said. “This administration has ice water running through their veins.”
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