Medicare and Medicaid turned 60 years old Wednesday, and central New York activists concerned about recent cuts in the federal programs are using the landmark to call for change.
Balloons and cupcakes festooned Columbus Circle in Syracuse as local activists marked the 60th anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare, which provide medical care to poor and older Americans. Members of local unions, organizations representing retired people and people with disabilities joined to call on the state to fill the funding gap caused by cuts in the recently passed tax and spending bill signed earlier this month by President Trump.
Ed O’Rourke, a senior from Jamesville, calls it a matter of life and death.
“85% of the people here who are over 65 don't have any healthcare except Medicare or Medicaid,” said O’Rourke. “And they've got to have that. Otherwise you're condemning people to die young.”
Aside from public awareness, the group organizing the protest, Citizen Action of New York, is calling on state lawmakers to return to Albany in a special session.
"We have heard Assemblymembers and state Senators come out and saying they do want a special session and that they're willing to go back to work to protect health care for New Yorkers," said Citizen Action spokesperson Ursula Rozum. "And so that's what we're going to be calling for in the coming weeks."
Rozum said the idea is to get the state to cover any federal Medicaid and Medicare shortfalls.
“So we're going to be asking state lawmakers and the governor to consider new progressive revenues to fill those funding gaps because it's really unacceptable to accept that people just are going to lose their health care,” she said.
Rozum said higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy and eliminating tax breaks for corporations would save enough revenue to cover all the Medicaid cuts in New York, estimated at almost $99 million.
