Issued September 26, 2017
Washington, D.C. -- Once again America’s working families have rallied together to disrupt the latest and most brutal Senate Republican effort to rip healthcare from millions. The announcement that they will not pursue a vote of the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill follows a nearly year-long campaign by working people to save their healthcare. People from coast-to-coast registered voters, made more than 270,000 phone calls and attended more than 400 town halls. Tomorrow SEIU members will once again meet with members of Congress to make their voices heard and call for a bipartisan solution on healthcare.
“This is yet another testament to the collective strength of working people who continue to stand united to protect Medicaid and secure healthcare justice for Americans. We will continue to stand against any threat to rip healthcare from millions and any effort to play politics and undermine the healthcare working people are counting on,” said Mary Kay Henry, International President of Service Employees International Union.
Many SEIU members are vested in this fight for their consumers, their families, and in some cases, themselves.
“Medicaid saved my life. If I had not had Medicaid, I would not have had access to the surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation that I need to treat and beat breast cancer,” said Margalie Williams, a Miami nursing home worker, and a member of 1199SEIU Florida.
SEIU members will use the strength that comes with joining together in a union to continue pushing back against the Trump administration’s ongoing sabotage campaign to destabilize insurance markets. In 2018, healthcare voters will hold accountable the Republicans in Congress who worked to take healthcare and Medicaid away from working people, seniors and people with disabilities.