| Hudson Valley families have one message for Mike Lawler after his cowardly vote for the Big, Ugly Bill: Lawler will pay the price for hiking health care costs this November.
Last week, cancer survivors, community leaders, and Hudson Valley families protested outside Lawler’s Mahopac office, delivering a petition with 150 signatures to both of his in-district offices to demand he stop driving up their health care costs.
The “WE PAY, HE PLAYS” rally comes as NY-17 families are opening notices that their monthly premiums are spiking by as much as 50% — the direct result of Lawler’s vote for the Big, Ugly Bill, which kicked nearly 14,000 NY-17 residents off New York’s Essential Plan, and let the enhanced ACA tax credits expire — prompting the average deductible to jump over $1,000 from $2,759 to $3,786.
Voters are “devastated” by premium hikes forcing them to choose “between groceries or turning on [their] AC” and know Lawler is directly responsible for these health care cuts, which are ripping coverage away from an estimated 450,000 New Yorkers.
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Take it from the nearly fourteen thousand Hudson Valley residents who lost their health care coverage thanks to Mike Lawler’s billionaire-first agenda: actions have consequences. After lying to his constituents and blindly supporting the largest cut to Medicaid in history, Lawler will have no choice but to face the music in November.”
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Yonkers Times: Amid Insurance Premium Spikes, Hudson Valley Families Call on Lawler to Lower Health Care Costs
- On July 15, Empire State Voices, alongside Hudson Valley residents, cancer survivors who rely on Medicaid, community leaders, and advocates for lower health care costs, gathered outside Rep. Mike Lawler’s Mahopac office for the “WE PAY, HE PLAYS” rally.
- During the rally, NY-17 constituents delivered a petition, which currently has 150 signatures, to both of Rep. Lawler’s in-district offices, demanding that Rep. Lawler support policies that lower health care costs for New York families.
- The event comes as families across the Hudson Valley received notices that their monthly premiums would increase, in some instances by as much as 50%. Rep. Mike Lawler supported the Republican Tax Law that is making cuts to Medicaid, kicking families off the New York Essential Plan, and Rep. Lawler has continued to support House Republican Leadership even as they let health care tax credits expire. Rep. Mike Lawler is responsible for the premium spikes New York families are facing.
- “I was diagnosed with breast cancer during my third trimester and I continue to rely on the Affordable Care Act to manage the lasting effects of my treatment. I just got a letter saying that I need to pay $140 more per month to get health care,” said Karen from Yorktown. “For me, that’s the difference between groceries or turning on my AC, but $140 means nothing to the billionaires Mike Lawler would have rather given a tax break to. I will keep showing up to let my Congressman know who he is hurting when he picks politics over people.”
- “Once you survive cancer, you rely on scans, medications, specialist appointments, and preventive care for the rest of your life. That’s expensive enough—we simply can’t afford to keep letting Rep. Lawler gamble with our health insurance,” said Justine from Bedford. “I have seen firsthand what happens when people get access to the care they need, and I am proud to be here in Mahopac today, demanding more for myself and so many people like me.”
- “Too many families are struggling right now with higher health care costs and grocery bills, and our leaders in Washington don’t seem to care enough to try and fix it,” said Robert from Stony Point. “I am devastated for my fellow New Yorkers whose affordable, reliable health care is caught in the crossfire of Rep. Lawler’s personal politics. I urge my Congressman to start taking action to lower our health care costs.”
The Highlands Current: Lawler Attacked on Health Care
- In a February video that ran on YouTube, a woman identified as “Tracey from Pearl River” (Lawler’s hometown) recounted draining her 401K after being denied coverage for cancer, and then regaining insurance through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. She was afraid Lawler “wants to take that away.”
- In a YouTube ad that ran from late April to May, “Karen from Peekskill” accuses Lawler of cutting the Medicaid her parents rely on to “give tax breaks to billionaires.”
- But the extension of those Affordable Care Act credits did not pass Congress. That failure and changes to the Republican-led One Big Beautiful Bill that could cut Medicaid enrollments by millions of people are two of the major themes as Conley, Democrats and advocacy groups target Lawler in November’s midterm elections.
- [The bill’s] provisions were also projected to cause 7.8 million people to lose Medicaid coverage by 2034. The bill also affected the health care exchanges New York and other states established when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. A year after the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the effects on health care coverage are starting to emerge.
- New York said that because of cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the state’s no-premium, no-deductible Essential Plan for low- and middle-income residents could no longer cover households earning between 200 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The estimated 450,000 people who lost coverage include individuals earning $31,920 or less annually and four-person households earning up to $82,500.
- Danielle Holahan, the executive director for the exchange, told New York Focus, a statewide news organization, that 150,000 to 200,000 Essential Plan users will be unable to buy insurance on the exchange or get coverage through their employers.
- Their dilemma, which took effect July 1, was the subject of a Facebook ad from a group called Families Over Billionaires. It featured state Assembly Member Dana Levenberg, whose district includes Philipstown. Calling the One Big Beautiful Bill the “big ugly bill,” Levenberg charged that Lawler “lied to us. Not once, not twice but three times you voted to cut Medicaid, and you don’t represent the people, you represent Donald Trump and all his flunkies.”
- Those Essential Plan enrollees who do find Obamacare coverage will pay premiums and deductibles that would have been lower had Congress voted to extend a pandemic-era increase to the tax credits that lower costs. Instead, these “enhanced” tax credits expired on Dec. 31, 2025.
- As a result, the average premium on the exchanges rose this year from $113 to $178 and the average deductible from $2,759 to $3,786, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling and news organization.
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