On Tuesday, Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA), Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) held a press briefing on Republicans' cuts to Medicaid.
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00:00Well, welcome everybody. Welcome to Revere. Governor Haley, Senator Warren, Senator Markey,
00:06Senator Edwards, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh, Revere's Chief of Public
00:11Health Lauren Buck. Today we stand here together against Medicaid cuts that will harm families
00:17of Revere. And as Revere's Mayor, I'm proud to welcome such a strong group of leaders
00:22and I'm proud to play my part on Team Massachusetts. I along with our entire delegation share grave
00:29concern over the big beautiful tax bill. It's far from beautiful. It's a pay now and
00:36pay more later scenario. We will feel these impacts of the careless actions for years
00:41because make no mistake, reduced access to health care, healthy foods and preventative
00:47care affects all of us. We will not only pay in dollars, but we will be overburdened with
00:53emergency rooms, lack of proper care and increased underlying health conditions that
00:59may go unrecognized until it's far too late. On the last Saturday of every month, the line
01:05wraps around the Cambridge Health Alliance with hundreds of families who participate
01:09in one of Revere's four food security programs. These vital services impact around 1,500 families
01:16each month. Residents of Revere and surrounding communities rely on programs like SNAP and
01:21EBT to make ends meet. These are the working class people that clean our schools, work
01:27in the grocery stores, cook at our local restaurants and may even provide daycare for our children.
01:33These are our neighbors, our children, our seniors and our veterans. This is not a red
01:39or blue issue. This is a human decency issue that affects families from Revere to Louisiana
01:45because hunger and health care take no party lines. Thank you and I want to welcome my
01:51next speaker, our next speaker, our fierce advocate and team leader of Massachusetts,
01:56Governor Maura Healey.
02:04Thank you Mayor Keefe and thank you to Jill Batty and the entire team here at Cambridge
02:09Health Alliance and the Revere Care Center for hosting us today. It's great to be here
02:16with Senators Warren and Markey, Senator Lydia Edwards from our legislature and leaders
02:22from Massachusetts Health Care, including our Secretary of Health and Human Services
02:26Kate Walsh, Undersecretary for Mass Health Mike Levine, Executive Director Audrey Gasteyer
02:33of the Health Connector, President Michael Curry of the Massachusetts League of Community
02:37Health Centers, Amy Rosenthal of Health Care for All, among others. We're here today because
02:44the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are trying to decimate health
02:50care in America. It's going to hurt people and that's why we're here because people got
02:55to understand what's going on so that they can get out and advocate, advocate to Congress,
03:02advocate to the Trump administration so that the proposed cuts that were announced the
03:06other night, released by Congress, 1.75 billion of which would be cuts to our own state, don't
03:15happen. This is not as they would describe it as a scalpel. We've heard that term before,
03:22a scalpel to a problem. It really is just a blunt force axe and it's going to fall on
03:30a lot of people here in Massachusetts and a lot of people around this country. People
03:36will get hurt and people will die and it will raise costs for everyone else. If this
03:44cut goes through, a quarter of a million people in Massachusetts will lose their health care
03:49coverage. I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. Imagine a 40-year-old woman
03:57who has serious mental health issues. She's only able to work part-time. She qualifies
04:03for MassHealth. She's going to lose her health care coverage. She's going to lose care. She's
04:11going to lose the services that she depends on. And she's going to have nowhere to turn.
04:17And that story is going to be repeated over and over and over again. These cuts target
04:26people with disabilities, requiring them to fill out more paperwork, which is going to
04:33have the effect of kicking them off as well. These cuts target our seasonal workers and
04:39gig workers here in Massachusetts, of which there are many, who can't get enough hours
04:45on a consistent basis and therefore qualify for MassHealth. They and many others will
04:52lose critical services and coverage. And what's going to happen to all these people? A quarter
04:57of a million people losing coverage, where are they going to go? Some will end up in
05:02the street. Many will end up in emergency rooms. Who do you think pays for it when people
05:10end up in emergency rooms? Hospitals can't absorb that. Insurance companies can't absorb
05:16that. We're going to all be absorbing that. Businesses here, residents here. People are
05:23going to see their premiums go up. People are going to see a whole lot of harm.
05:29In addition to MassHealth, we talk a lot about MassHealth. There's also a really important
05:33program here in Massachusetts called the Health Connector. The Health Connector is for people
05:38who make just a little bit too much to qualify for MassHealth, but are still just getting
05:47by. Who are these people? They're a lot of people running small businesses. They're people
05:55who are self-employed. Now, the Republicans and Donald Trump want to slash funding for
06:04the Health Connector as well. And this is going to drive up premiums, force 100,000
06:13families to go without coverage. So you can see the proposed cuts, if they go through,
06:20they're devastating for Massachusetts residents, for families, for employers, for our economy,
06:28for people across the state. And this doesn't just impact MassHealth or the Connector. Let's
06:36talk about nursing homes. Nursing homes will close. If these cuts go through, nursing homes
06:40will close. That means less care for our parents and our grandparents. It means seniors not
06:47being able to go to a nursing home for rehab after surgery. They're going to have to rely
06:52on family members, neighbors, who knows, to care for them instead. Hospitals, which you
07:02know are already fragile as it is in our country, are going to be even more at risk because
07:09more people without coverage will be flooding their emergency rooms. Health centers that
07:15depend on Medicaid reimbursements will be hit hard. And some of these hospitals and
07:21health care centers in Massachusetts will not survive, will close if these cuts go through.
07:30That means, of course, that people are going to be put even further away from care. Longer
07:37wait times for appointments, doctors and nurses stretched even more thin than they are already.
07:44Even having to travel further to have your baby, to get an x-ray, to get care for your
07:48kids, to get that needed MRI. This is all what's going to happen if these cuts go through.
07:56This of course comes on top of the cuts we've already seen to medical research. The budget
08:03proposal that they're trying to jam through doesn't make any sense. It makes no sense
08:07from a health care point of view and no sense from a cost savings point of view either.
08:15Because this proposal isn't going to save money or cut the deficit. What this does is
08:22just give the Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump more money to pay for the tax
08:29cuts that they want to give to the richest of the rich. So this is a call to action.
08:35Everybody needs to understand what's at stake. I ask that everybody use that information
08:40and be an advocate. Use your voice. Let the White House and the Senate know to not let
08:46these cuts happen. We can't let them happen. We can't let them take away health care from
08:51our people here in Massachusetts, from our seniors, our families, our veterans, from
08:57young kids, from people with disabilities. We can't let hospitals and health care centers
09:01close here in Massachusetts. We can't see nursing homes close. So let's do everything
09:06we can to protect health care in our state. And that means fighting back against what
09:12is going on in Washington. And with that, I want to invite Senator Elizabeth Warren
09:18up to speak, who has been a champion for so many things, especially when it comes to fighting
09:24for people's access to health care. Senator Warren.
09:27Thank you very much. Thank you, Governor. It is a real honor to stand here with the
09:35governor, with the senator, with the senator, with the mayor, with the doctors, with the
09:39people who fight for health care here in the Commonwealth. I am grateful for that. And
09:46I look forward to the fact that when we partner up, that's how we make real change. So last
09:52week, the House of Representatives passed Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill. This would
09:59be the greatest transfer of wealth from just one piece of legislation from the poorest
10:10Americans to the richest Americans ever before in U.S. history. Think about that. These guys
10:17are actually out there making history by taking away from hardworking families, from
10:23people down on their luck, from seniors, from little babies, so that a handful of billionaires
10:30and corporate CEOs can get more giveaways from the government. That is the Republican
10:37plan. Billionaires win. Everyone else loses. Now, the details are gruesome on this bill.
10:47This bill would cut Medicaid, gut the Affordable Care Act, and slash food assistance. If it
10:55passes the Senate, this bill will rip health care away from 14 million people, over a quarter
11:04of a million right here in Massachusetts, all to pay for handouts to billionaires. This
11:12Republican bill will raise costs for working families, from groceries to health care to
11:18utility bills, while making the richest Americans even richer. Here in Massachusetts, the consequences
11:25will be severe. In our state, Medicaid is known as mass health, and it covers almost
11:322 million people. If this bill passes, every one of them will be at risk of losing their
11:39health coverage. That is one-third of all newborn babies and their mamas right here
11:47in Massachusetts at risk for losing their health care. That's checkups and trips to
11:53the doctor for ear infections and money for asthma medications and for antibiotics for
12:01more than a third of all the children right here in Massachusetts. That's paying the monthly
12:09bills for almost two-thirds of all nursing home residents right here in Massachusetts. As the
12:18governor said, the pain will echo through our communities, hitting even those who don't
12:25currently receive direct care. Without the guaranteed payments from Medicaid, our hospitals
12:32and our community health centers are at risk. Community hospitals, even with Medicaid reimbursement,
12:40are already struggling. And right now, nearly half the funding for Massachusetts community
12:46health centers, which saves money by preventing people from needing to go to the emergency
12:52room, half their money currently comes from Medicaid that is on the chopping block by the
12:59Republicans. When those hospitals and community health centers are forced to close, we all lose.
13:08Now, right now, you probably know someone who counts on Medicaid to pay for the medicine that
13:16helps treat their cancer. You probably know someone who got the hip replacement they needed
13:23so that they can walk, paid for by Medicaid. You probably know someone whose kid gets their
13:30inhaler from Medicaid or the nursing home that takes care of their aging parents, and all of
13:38those are at risk. This is a full-blown crisis, and we are here to sound the alarm. I'm here with
13:46Governor Healey and with the senators and everyone behind me because we believe that no one in
13:53America should go without health care so that Elon Musk can take a rocket ship ride to Mars.
14:00We believe that no senior should be kicked to the curb because Mark Zuckerberg wants to buy
14:07another Hawaiian island, and we believe that no one with a disability who needs a home health aid
14:15should have to give that up so that Jeff Bezos can buy a third yacht. We believe that, and that is why
14:24we are here to fight back. I am proud to stand beside the governor and beside the senators, beside
14:32the mayor, to make sure that everyone in Massachusetts and around the country gets the
14:38health care that they deserve. And with that, I will turn it over to a wonderful partner and a
14:46tremendous fighter in the United States Senate, my partner, Ed Markey. Thank you so much. Senator Markey.
14:54Thank you, Senator Warren, so much for your great leadership on this issue.
14:58To Governor Healey, thank you for your great leadership. Mayor Keefe, Dr. Curry, Jill Batty,
15:07Dennis Heapy, Senator Lydia Edwards, Amy Rosenthal, and Kate Walsh, thank you all so much for all of
15:15the great work which you do. This is an historic battle which we are right now in the
15:24middle of. This is going to be the defining battle over the Trump administration's
15:31Make America Sick Again agenda, and whether or not Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy,
15:37Jr. are going to be successful in implementing this gutting of essential health care programs
15:44for our nation. Lyndon Johnson, when he signed Medicare and Medicaid into law back in 1965,
15:56he basically was going to attempt to ensure that the poor in our country got the same level
16:03of health care as the rich. Now it's 60 years later, and Speaker Johnson and Donald Trump
16:10and his MAGA acolytes are all marching towards the biggest cuts in the history of Medicaid and
16:19Medicare. Republicans want to slash $762 billion from Medicaid. They want to cut $500 billion
16:31from Medicare. They want to make it harder for people to be able to get their health insurance.
16:38By gutting Medicaid, Republicans are looking to loot a program that has guaranteed health care
16:45to 72 million Americans, including 2 million here in the state of Massachusetts. They're
16:51looking to steal from a program that pays for 70 percent of people who are in nursing homes
17:00are on Medicaid. Fifty percent of all children in our nation are on Medicaid.
17:09That's the program that the Republicans are seeking to loot â the program that keeps
17:15grandma and grandpa in nursing homes, the program that takes care of 50 percent of the children
17:20in our nation, all in order to have a tax break for the wealthiest people in our nation.
17:27Providers are going to lose their jobs. It'll be harder for families to find a pediatrician,
17:33harder for people to get mental health care, harder for seniors to get help as they age.
17:39Families will lose access to care. And as millions more Americans lose their health insurance,
17:45skip appointments, ration medications, the billionaires who can afford concierge medicine
17:52will get yet another handout from the government. The rich will get richer in our nation and the
17:58sick will get sicker. That's what this bill is all about. Instead of fighting for guaranteed
18:05health care, for all, Republicans have left us defending the scraps. And this isn't a big,
18:12beautiful bill as Donald Trump would call it. It is a big billionaire bonus and a bludgeoning
18:19of the health care system in our nation. But the fight to save Medicaid and Medicare
18:26is far from over. Now the package comes over to the Senate. Senator Josh Hawley is right.
18:34It's wrong to cut Medicaid, and it will also be political suicide for the Republicans in Congress.
18:41And we're going to make that case to them every single day on the floor of the Senate. Senator
18:47Warren and I are committed to that battle. Today we will use all of our efforts to stop
18:56these cuts. We cannot agonize. We're going to organize. We're going to use this opportunity
19:05to put every Republican on record on every one of these cuts. We're going to make sure every
19:10Republican is seen by every American who wants to ensure that billionaires get tax breaks at the
19:19expense of ordinary people on the streets. We're going to slow down and stop this big billionaire
19:24sellout once and for all. And what we saw when they made the biggest effort after Newt Gingrich
19:31was elected in the 1990s is they passed the Republicans in House and Senate a huge cut
19:40to Medicare. Well, Medicare pays the bills for hospitals, along with Medicaid. The Revere
19:46Hospital went under. The Malden Hospital went under. The Stoneham Hospital went under. It's
19:53Medicaid and Medicare that pay the bills for these hospitals that then provide the emergency rooms,
20:00the ICUs that everyone in the Commonwealth, everyone in the country can use. That's what's
20:07at stake. It's the very nature of community hospitals, of community health centers,
20:13of all of these facilities that are funded ultimately by Medicare and Medicaid, and we're
20:18going to make sure that these cuts do not happen. And with that, I turn to a great leader here in
20:25the state, a conscience up on the floor of the Massachusetts State Senate every single day,
20:30Senator Lydia Edwards. Good afternoon. I'm here today with incredible colleagues and leaders
20:41at the federal level, at the local level, and fundamentally I think what we need to say,
20:46and be very clear to everybody, we know that health care, access to affordable health care,
20:52is a basic fundamental human right. And this attack is an attack on our dignity. It's an attack
21:00on our humanity. This gut punch is delivered so sloppily and so cruelly that I can't imagine
21:09there's any other point besides to just punish people. It does not help our economy. It actually
21:17hurts our economy. And the fact is when people now, if this cut goes through, people will be
21:23making financial decisions when they should be thinking about medical decisions. They'll be
21:28deciding whether they can afford their diabetes insulin, whether they need to cut it up, which
21:32child gets to go to the hospital, which one gets to go to the dentist. They'll be making financial
21:37decisions, not health care decisions, and we're all worse off for it. If we do not block this cut,
21:44we will see the racial disparities in our health care grow even wider. We will be having people who
21:51don't have access to basic health care clinics like we are standing here today or in East Boston.
21:57And by the way, in Massachusetts we have led the way in health care and access to health care in
22:03so many fundamental ways. And it is working. We are a healthier state because of it. We have lower
22:09medical debt because of it. People are able to start new businesses. Young people are able to,
22:16when they get off their parents' insurance, are able to bravely step out into the world with their
22:20first new job. That's what health care and access to health care does for people. It strengthens
22:26our economy. It encourages us to move and to think creatively. If we make this cut,
22:33it's going to retract our economy, our creativity, and it's going to punish our most vulnerable.
22:40I'm standing here today to fight against that cut, and I'm so proud of the state legislature
22:45and my colleagues and the governor for our continued investment in health care in Massachusetts.
22:51But we know our success is something that they're trying to punish. And we're going to stand up,
22:56we're going to fight back, and I'm so honored to stand with those individuals who have been
23:00fighting for years to make sure that we have not only access to health care but also eliminating
23:05racial disparities. And with that, I want to introduce a leader in that particular world,
23:11Dr. Michael Curry. Thank you. I often get to say, people ask me, why do you live in Massachusetts
23:22when you can be in 80 degree weather somewhere else in the country during the winter months?
23:27And I remind myself, as I travel the country, we talk about policy and the impact of Medicaid
23:32cuts on health centers. Why I live here is because of the phenomenal people that are standing behind
23:37me. Our phenomenal governor who warned us that loss of access to care will mean deaths.
23:45You know, when the Senator Warren talks about visiting, and she knows health centers well,
23:49and the risk that we may lose health centers is real. It was real before these policy shifts
23:54on the federal level and could be exacerbated and become a reality now. Senator Markey and I
24:00are historians, and we talk about the history of Medicaid. And I love an African proverb that says,
24:06if you know the beginning well, the end won't trouble you. So he talked about 1965. Many people
24:12don't realize that Medicaid and Medicare were civil rights bills that actually integrated
24:17hospitals across this country and gave access to millions of African Americans and other people of
24:22color who are locked out of our health care system. So this is a sobering moment for me
24:26right now to think about what this could mean. Please think for a moment about the faces and
24:32stories of who will be impacted by these cuts of Medicaid. We tend to talk numbers, but we don't
24:36talk people. These are the people who will suffer from all parts of the Commonwealth if they do not
24:41have access to Medicare and Medicaid at their local health center. A middle-aged woman from
24:46southeast Massachusetts who lived with PTSD and chronic pain for many years. She was increasingly
24:53isolated and depressed. With Medicaid, she connected with her local health center and a team who
24:58managed her multiple physical and mental health issues. This is real stories. A senior from Boston
25:04with diabetes who needs access to care and medications for his chronic health condition.
25:10Without access to his medication, he is too dizzy to walk without two canes
25:16to support him and will end up in the emergency department due to a fall. The mayor said it, pay
25:21now or pay greater later. A Haitian immigrant at a health center in Western Mass who was living with
25:26an untreated HIV AIDS diagnosis who when able to access care also discovered that her youngest
25:33child was also positive HIV. MassHealth gave them both access to care that they could afford
25:40and could manage their HIV care. I want to give the personal story. I'm a child of Roxbury, a
25:45child raised in the Linnistree housing projects. My mother raised me and my sisters on MassHealth
25:50because she was a housekeeper who had a job that didn't have health insurance benefits,
25:56that didn't pay well enough for her to provide her own coverage to provide coverage for us
26:02as children. She raised us on Medicaid. The bill is projected to cut $625 billion for Medicaid and
26:09will have devastating impacts on health centers across the state and across the country.
26:15With the loss in revenue from the cuts, health center leaders will be forced to make difficult
26:19decisions to cut services, close sites and lay off staff resulting in decreased access to care
26:25to the neediest patients. Over 386,000 community health center patients are covered by Medicaid
26:31or MassHealth as we say in Massachusetts. One in seven Medicaid enrollees are served at a community
26:37health center. 47 percent and across the country even higher community health center patients are
26:42covered by Medicaid. On average, 31 percent of health centers revenue come from Medicaid. 92
26:49percent of patients were working full-time or part-time, not working due to caregiving
26:54responsibilities, illness or disability or school attendance. This is the face of the Medicaid
26:59population. So as we talk about fraud, waste and abuse, as we talk about changes in Medicare
27:05policy, I want to bring a face to that for the million patients we serve across the commonwealth.
27:1160 plus percent of them, 60 plus percent of them are people of color. They're LGBTQ,
27:17they're at a low poverty level, they're food insecure, housing insecure, they're underemployed,
27:24underinsured and they'll be churning on and off Medicaid and now to uncompensated care. So it's
27:30important that we have a face to these policy changes that are happening on a federal level.
27:35I will end where I started. Thank God I live in Massachusetts because we have phenomenal leaders
27:40that are willing to stand up and fight for what we know is right. We did it with health reform in 2006
27:45and we'll do it again under this current administration and we'll fight for Medicaid.
27:58Hi everyone, I'm Jill Batty and I'm the chief financial officer here at CHA.
28:02That means I'm really more of an accountant so you're going to hear more of an accounting kind
28:05of a summary today but I just want to say how happy I am to be standing up here with these
28:10individuals, all of whom have demonstrated that they care about the residents of Massachusetts
28:17and that they stand behind and are strong champions of health care programs that matter for patients,
28:22families and communities. Welcome to the CHA Revere Care Center. Together with the rest of
28:29our care centers, we offer more than 800,000 outpatient visits annually and 38,000 of them
28:35occur here in Revere. You heard the mayor reference our mobile food market. Last year
28:41our volunteers and partners distributed 156,000 pounds of food including fresh produce
28:50and vegetables along with blood pressure checks and other wellness screenings. We matter here in
28:56this community and we want to be here for the future. CHA is a public hospital system. We include
29:02two acute care hospitals and extensive behavioral health care. We also focus on the health care
29:07services that matter the most to our patients, our families and our communities. Whether it's
29:13accessing primary care and behavioral health care in your neighborhood, maternal and child health
29:18care in the community or specialty services that are coordinated and available to you regardless
29:24of your ability to pay. Medicaid plays a special role in facilitating the services that we provide.
29:30Over 50 percent of our patients rely on Medicaid. As poignantly shared by one of our clinical social
29:36workers in oncology, she said, I have witnessed firsthand how mass health has allowed people
29:42to focus on recovery instead of getting coverage for essential care. On behalf of her and her
29:48clinical team, I'd like to share one more story. You've heard a few stories from Dr.
29:53Curry and some others, but I'd like for you to imagine this story if this individual were
29:57dealing with Medicaid of the future. Rose, now 50 years old, cherishes her role as a grandmother.
30:04Since a thyroid cancer diagnosis in her 30s, mass health coverage has made such a difference in her
30:09cancer treatment and ongoing primary care at CHA. Due to mass health coverage, she received the
30:15necessary surgeries and multiple rounds of cancer treatment amid several recurrences.
30:20Now, she is in remission and well enough to be the primary caretaker of her beloved granddaughter.
30:26Our ability, CHA's ability to provide early and ongoing excellent treatment for people like Rose
30:32is dependent on state and federal government partnerships through Medicaid. However, the
30:37current congressional reconciliation bill passed by the House last week and now moving into the
30:41Senate for debate will fundamentally erode Medicaid and diminish the federal partnership.
30:48These unprecedented cuts to Medicaid jeopardize health and well-being of the two million people
30:53who rely on it in Massachusetts, resulting in a vast increase in the number of uninsured patients,
30:58barriers to care when people need it the most, less care capacity, and services for patients
31:04of essential providers like CHA that serve as a lifeline in our communities. Make no mistake,
31:11if these cuts happen, it will be devastating to CHA, our patients, and our communities.
31:17But the reality is, it's going to affect every person who deals with the Massachusetts health
31:22system. It is that devastating. This magnitude will negatively affect everyone within Massachusetts
31:30that has that level, that has impact with our health care systems. Together, we stand together
31:36with, therefore, we stand together with our distinguished leaders and urge Congress to
31:41reject these harmful Medicaid cuts and to preserve the access to care that has occurred here in
31:47Massachusetts and, indeed, across the nation that really serves as a foundation for health and
31:54health improvement. With that, I'm happy to turn the podium over to Dennis Heafey, who's
32:00going to give us a perspective as a participant in the program.
32:41Hi. Thank you. Thank you for being here. My name is Dennis Heafey, and I'm a MassHealth consumer,
33:03and I work for the Disability Policy Consortium in Boston, a statewide advocacy group.
33:10And as I was coming over here and thinking about what I was going to say, a woman and her
33:16young daughter got on the bus, and the woman had had a stroke, a very severe stroke. She's
33:21a hemiplegic, was basically dragging her left leg or holding her left arm up. Her daughter had a
33:31developmental disability. And I was thinking, who's going to take care of these two people
33:40if MassHealth is not able to provide services for them with all these cuts that come? Because
33:45these folks definitely need home and community services, the same services I rely on, services
33:53that keep me out of a nursing home. But these people need these services for this woman just
33:58to help raise her daughter. I just can't get them out of my head. And for me, if I go to a
34:07nursing home, I'll die. It'll cost the state, I can't imagine how much money to even put me into
34:13a nursing home. But I'll die because I have very complex medical needs. Bed sores, trips back and
34:20forth to the emergency department because of my complex medical needs, which are very well taken
34:26care of in my home at far lower cost. But when my PC hours will be cut, I won't be able to get
34:34enough PCAs to provide the care I need. And it's not just about me as a quadriplegic or for this
34:40woman and her daughter. It's all people in Massachusetts rely on MassHealth. I think all
34:47the kids in MassHealth, almost 50% of kids in Massachusetts, they rely on MassHealth. And all
34:53the adults, all the folks in Massachusetts who work, who earn the insurance that they receive
34:59in MassHealth. And we don't talk enough about that. I really don't think we talk enough about
35:04what, how smart and grateful we are to live in the state where there's investment in people's
35:10ability to pay into MassHealth and actually earn money and still be able to maintain their Medicaid.
35:18And that's something we just don't talk enough about. I also think about all the folks
35:23from other countries that are here that are documented folks and are getting insurance
35:28in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts might be penalized for actually doing the right thing
35:34and doing them what's effective, cost effective, and also effective in terms of caring for other
35:39people's and the human lives. I also think about all the folks, all the businesses that will be
35:46harmed by these cuts that will come, whether it's home health agencies, community-based
35:54organizations that provide behavioral health services, they'll all go out of business. That's
35:58increased unemployment in the state. And so the ripple effect of these cuts will be astronomical
36:07and it's going to really harm the state and increase the levels of poverty and unemployment.
36:12And so I'm begging legislators at the federal level, thank Senator Warren, thank Senator Markey
36:19and Representative Pressley and all the other folks in Massachusetts, our delegation, for the
36:29hard work they're doing. When they say you have to do more, it's really not enough. You have to
36:36convince Republicans that are in states that will really be harmed, these are expansion states,
36:42that they need to really push back and go against the Trump administration and say,
36:47we're going to do what's best for our people and we're not going to go based on what this one
36:53person wants. And so I guess I'm here pleading not just for Massachusetts, but all folks on
36:59MassHealth, I should say all folks on Medicaid and Medicare, I'm a dual eligible, in the country
37:05because to hurt Medicaid hurts Medicare because there's such a high percentage of folks who are
37:11on Medicare that are also on Medicaid nationally. And so if I don't have the services I need
37:18in Medicaid, it's going to increase my Medicare costs. The concepts are very simple,
37:27but you can't be simplistic in how you deal with them. And that's what we have right now,
37:32that's the problem we have, is people trying to find simplistic answers to problems that really
37:38are simple and straightforward, but they're not being addressed appropriately. I'm not going to
37:43babble on to it, but just say I don't want to go to a nursing home because I know I will die.
37:49I've had friends that go to nursing homes, they've gone to nursing homes and they've died.
37:53I don't want to see that woman and her daughter or others like them doing the service that they
37:58need in the home to get to live decent lives in Massachusetts. And so I'm grateful to live
38:03in the state and I'm petrified for it. No, it's funny, I'm not going to use the word petrified,
38:11I'm angry. I'm angry and it's about taking action and really not being afraid of really saying
38:17we're not going to stand for this, we're going to address it. And so that's what I really am here to
38:21say, say no, not in Massachusetts and possibly no in other states either because people with
38:27disabilities, people with low income, all people deserve health care. So thank you. Thank you.
38:42Thank you. Dennis, thank you so much. We're happy to take questions on topic.
38:48Governor, a question for you and the Secretary. Prior to all this happening,
38:53you had a budget proposal that was some controversial cuts in it to DMAH, DPH.
38:58Should these cuts go into effect, what would the budgets of the future look like? What areas
39:06would you potentially be cutting if there's this big a deficit to mass health? You know,
39:12as we've said all along, the situation in the federal administration, what the Trump administration
39:16is doing, makes it challenging for any state right now in the country, including ours. So we're going
39:22to continue to just do our best to fight for the funding that we need, that we're entitled to under
39:28law. There's a lot in litigation and certainly to do what we're doing today in advocating to the
39:34public that they join us in advocating for these funding streams. They absolutely need to continue
39:40because people will get hurt and people will die. Any other questions on topic?
39:49For the Senators, we've heard a lot about the states of if this bill does pass. Can you talk
39:54a little bit about what, if anything, Senate Democrats can do to prevent it from passing?
40:01So, Eddie, so right now it has passed the House in its current version. It's going to the Senate
40:11and there's a lot of pushback in the Senate. There are a lot of folks who understand,
40:17even on the Republican side, that this is a real problem to make these kinds of cuts.
40:23So our job at this moment is to raise the stakes here so everyone across this country can see
40:33exactly who's going to be hurt and exactly who's going to be helped by the Republican budget. We
40:40really want to underscore this is about taking away health care from newborns so that Jeff Bezos
40:47can buy a third yacht. And that's something that I think most Americans, whether you live in a red
40:53state or blue state, are not in favor of. And that's what we want to underscore right now at
41:00this minute so that while the Republicans are at home with their constituents, not having town
41:06halls, we want them at least to hear nationally about what this bill is all about. And the only
41:14way we can do that is to raise it. We will talk about it on the floor of the Senate. We've already
41:19had hearings. Senator Markey has been part of this. I've been part of this. But this is the
41:23moment to talk about it. And then I just want to make sure you know where it goes from here.
41:28If the Republicans change the bill but pass it, it will have to go back to the House again.
41:34So we will then keep the focus as well on all of the House Republicans. Remember two things.
41:42When this bill passed the House, it passed by a single vote. A single vote. We get just one
41:49Republican in the House to go the other way, and this bill does not make it through. But also
41:54remember 2017. I know how frustrating it feels. Republicans are in control of the White House,
42:02in control of the Senate, in control of the House. But that was true in 2017 when they went after
42:08Medicare and Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act. And you may remember it passed the House. They
42:14all went over and celebrated with Donald Trump, popped the brewskis. I mean, what's not to
42:18celebrate about taking away health care from millions and millions of people? It came to the
42:24Senate, the Republicans had a majority, and at the last minute we won it by a single vote.
42:33Not because we had somehow more Democrats than we'd had before, but because we got the word out.
42:38And we got the word out all across Massachusetts, but all across the rest of the country. And that's
42:43what we're here to fight for right now. Ed, what else can I add? All issues go through three phases.
42:50Political education, political activation, political implementation. Until last Thursday
42:57night, Friday morning, no one was quite sure what was going to be in this bill. Will the moderates
43:03win? Will the reasonable Republicans win, or will they have to capitulate? Well, now the story is
43:11clear. The cuts to Medicaid are draconian. The cuts to SNAP are draconian. The tax breaks to
43:21billionaires are the highest in American history. So the storyline gets very simple as we move to
43:29the political education phase over the next couple of weeks and then to the political
43:33activation phase, because all across our country in facilities like this, in purple states,
43:38in red states, there are going to be meetings and the hospital CEOs, the community health leaders,
43:44the behavioral health leaders, the community leaders will be talking to the senators about
43:50the implications for their medical facilities. So it's no longer just theoretical. It's no longer
43:57just a political debate in the salons of Washington. Now it's very real. We saw this
44:02in Massachusetts with the Stewart health crisis. We saw them loot the hospital system in our state.
44:09We saw the Shoba Valley go under. We saw the hospital in Dorchester, Kearney, go under because
44:17of millionaires and billionaires who wanted to loot the system. Well, this is the Stewart health
44:22system on steroids across the whole country. It's a looting of the health care system for the
44:27wealthiest people in our country. And I think as each day goes by in these red and purple states,
44:34they're going to see what the political consequences are. And this time we have evidence
44:39that proves that when the Medicare cuts happened in 1997, by the scores, by the hundreds all across
44:47the country, hospitals went under. I just named three. And by the way, who goes under? It's those
44:53that have the most elderly patients in them because of Medicare and those who have the working
44:57class who use that facility as well. Those are the facilities which go under. And we're going to have
45:04a battle on the floor of the Senate. And Senator Warren, when she gets to the microphone, people
45:10back up on the Republican side because we're coming loaded for this fight. We're not going to
45:15back down. And I think ultimately Republicans are going to see that they're going to proceed
45:20at their own political peril. And Massachusetts is a perfect example, with Stewart, of what has happened.
45:26Make them pay.
45:28Senator, can I ask you one quick question?
45:30No, the only thing I would add is this is a crisis in Massachusetts. It's devastating in those states.
45:36If you look at the mix of federal and state support, we're about a 50-50 state. States like Mississippi are 80-20.
45:43So I think for us, this is terrible. And we have, well, we have the infrastructure to deal with it.
45:49But there are states who will be utterly decimated, accomplished and simply decimated.
45:53And those are states with large numbers of rural hospitals who are closing.
45:57This is not a regulatory issue.
46:01Senator, you had talked about the wealth transfer aspect of this. Beyond the people who are directly potentially going to lose their insurance,
46:07could you talk about just societally in the United States, beyond simply the population that uses Medicaid, how does the wealth transfer?
46:13The wealth transfer works a couple of ways.
46:17The first one is that the hospitals and community health centers that currently provide services get full reimbursement from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
46:33They lose that reimbursement and that means that that very slim margin that is the difference between operating in the black and operating in the red is gone.
46:45And these hospitals, some of which are holding on right now by their fingernails, end up closing.
46:53When they close, they don't just close for Medicaid patients. They close for everybody.
46:59So anybody who's feeling chest pains and needs emergency medical care right now is just out of luck.
47:07Anyone whose kid falls at the playground and needs what looks like 126 stitches is just out of luck.
47:15Anyone who's looking to deliver a baby is just out of luck.
47:19So that's how it starts to echo through the system.
47:23The other way it echoes through the system is providing alternative ways to get access to health care is part of how people are able to start their own businesses.
47:35Not everybody is going to work for a giant corporation.
47:39And if you're not working for a giant corporation that can actually help you with health care, you've got to rely on these other systems that work through the government.
47:47So everybody who wants to start a little business, one of the first questions they have to ask is,
47:53what's my idea for the business, how am I going to get financing, and how am I going to pay for my health care during the time that I'm trying to get this business up and running?
48:03You take away these supports and you take away much of what entrepreneurs rely on to be able to get those businesses up and running.
48:13Third way that it hurts is look at all of the people right now who are working.
48:19God dang it, many of them are working two and three jobs.
48:23But it's not enough where they are to give them full coverage health care.
48:27So they've got to rely on programs like Medicaid in order to be able to stay in those jobs and to take care of themselves and their kids when somebody gets sick.
48:39You lose that, now you've got more people who are back in the hospitals for uncompensated care,
48:45and more to the point, not getting the health care they need when they need it.
48:51It is cheaper to take care of the child when the tooth first hurts rather than after an infection has set in.
48:59And that's true all the way through the health care system, and then I will mention the last one, although there are more.
49:05And that is for people with significant disabilities who need that home health aid, people like Dennis.
49:13The difference between Dennis getting some help so that he can stay in his own home, in his own apartment,
49:21and having Dennis have to go to a facility that will provide round-the-clock care for him,
49:30is a difference not just of quality of life for Dennis, it's also a straight dollars and cents difference.
49:38It costs more money for Dennis to have a tougher, more restricted life in a nursing home than it does for him to be in his own home.
49:50But the way we make that happen is we make it happen through these federal supports that we keep in place.
49:58If Dennis's home health aids are gone, then Dennis is off in a nursing home,
50:04and we have traded something that is barely working for something that is just not going to work.
50:16And that echoes through our whole commonwealth.
50:20And that's just some of it. Those are the ones that come to mind for me.
50:25Obviously, in Revere in 1900, life expectancy was 48 years of age. That was it.
50:33It's programs like Medicaid and Medicare that have changed the trajectory of ordinary families.
50:41The wealthy always did well.
50:43But it's communities like Revere that is the target of programs like that, that Lyndon Johnson is putting in place.
50:52Until 1965, when a senior got sick, it was most likely going to lead to bankruptcy.
50:58That was all that happened. And then it changed the trajectory of the entire family who then had to support that senior.
51:04The same thing is true now with Medicaid, because it sits there as a support for the entire family.
51:10Otherwise, there was a cascading effect economically in that family, which is how it was before 1965 in our country, in Revere, Massachusetts.
51:21So that's what this fight is all about.
51:23It's whether or not we're going to provide, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, health is the first wealth.
51:29That's what Medicare and Medicaid provide for every citizen.
51:33It's not meant to be wealth for those who are already wealthy.
51:37They already did well before 1965 in our society.
51:39That's the transformative moment.
51:41And economically, it has then served as the underpinning for every family to be able to more than survive, but to thrive.
51:49Thank you all. Thank you all for coming.