March for Medicaid
Public · Hosted by Vermont Workers' Center
Join us to protect and expand Medicaid and to guarantee the human right to healthcare for everyone. Click here to RSVP: http://bit.ly/MedicaidMarch
June 16th, 2018
United Community Church
1325 Main St, St Johnsbury VT
Gather at 10:30am, rally at 11am, march at 11:30am
Stick around for a free community meal immediately following with march and rally.
+Do you or a family member count on Medicaid or Dr. Dynasaur?
+Are you a person with a disability who relies on Medicaid to live independently?
+Are you unable to access dental or other care you need?
+Are you unfairly excluded from Medicaid because of immigration status or other reasons?
+Are you worried about changes proposed to Medicaid?
You are not alone. Over 1 in 3 of us in Vermont is on some form of Medicaid (known as Green Mountain Care in Vermont) or uses a Medicaid-funded service. Many of us find it hard to get full-time work, and what jobs there are pay poverty wages and provide few or no benefits. For children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, the working poor, elders, and many others, Medicaid has been a lifeline in uncertain times.
As healthcare costs rise, politicians are looking for ways to cut spending on Medicaid, which provides healthcare for about 218,000 Vermont residents - one third of the people in Vermont.
The federal government is trying to dismantle Medicaid by allowing states to impose work requirements and other obstacles. This thinly veiled attempt to blame the poor for poverty was announced just weeks after Congress passed a tax cut for the super-rich and large corporations. Just imagine: people in the $732,000+ tax bracket will get an average tax break of $51,140, when corporate tax breaks and reduction of the estate tax are factored in. Some corporations getting breaks — such as pharmaceutical companies, hospital conglomerates, and insurance companies — are those making big bucks off our health, or by denying us healthcare.
Medicaid and other health programs are threatened with cuts at the state and federal level.
And it's not just Medicaid. Obamacare subsidies are also on the chopping block, and insurance companies are expected to request huge premium increases this year as the insurance market is destabilized. That will throw more of us into the ranks of the uninsured. Funding for reproductive health services is under attack. State workers and teachers are facing health insurance rollbacks, and health insurance is a sticking point in negotiations for all unionized workers. There is pressure to privatize the Veterans Affairs (VA), farming out healthcare for veterans rather than guaranteeing it as a condition of military service. At the same time, fewer and fewer of us have access to the social conditions that promote health such as stable housing and stable work.
This is why are marching to protect and expand Medicaid and to guarantee the human right to healthcare for everyone. Join us in standing up for the right of all people to live in dignity.
**PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD W/ NEIGHBORS, FAMILY, & FRIENDS!!
No Cuts to Medicaid! Healthcare Is A Human Right!
For local (Hardwick-area) info. (carpooling, etc.), please email: liz@workerscenter.org;
or message me (Mary C. Gagnon) on fb, or by phone: (802)472-3601