“While Washington has turned its back on us, California must lead the way forward.”

LOS ANGELES, CA – Following deep federal government cuts to critical subsidies and budget funding that have jeopardized the health and safety of millions of Californians, the Fight for Our Health campaign (led by SEIU California, Health Access, and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network) issued the following statement urging Governor Newsom and the legislature to prioritize state-level revenue allocation and generation in this year’s budget. 

“While Washington has turned its back on us, California must lead the way forward. The responsibility to act now falls to Governor Newsom and the legislature,” said Amanda McAllister-Wallner, Executive Director, Health Access. “There is no higher budget priority than protecting our access to care by identifying and generating necessary revenue to backfill what Congress took from us. Without aggressive, intentional investment, our state will descend into a public health catastrophe. We urge our lawmakers to meet this moment with the boldness it demands. We cannot – and will not – allow the health of Californians to be sacrificed for corporate profit.”

Next week, more than a hundred dedicated advocates – including frontline health care workers and people with disabilities – will be traveling from across California to the State Capitol to make their voices heard. They will be heading directly into the halls of the legislature to urge state leaders to prioritize the health of our communities and identify sustainable, long-term revenue streams to ensure Californians do not lose their access to health care. 

“The impact of the Republican and Trump Administration’s deep cuts to health care on Californians is enormous,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, Executive Director, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN). “We are on the precipice of a humanitarian and economic crisis: premiums are doubling on average, with some Californians seeing their rates triple or more. The deepest cuts to Medi-Cal in a generation threaten to strip life-saving access from our immigrant community, seniors, children, working families, and those in the fight of their lives against cancer – unless California acts now to leverage the tremendous wealth in this state to provide sustainable, long-term funding to protect access to care. The Fight for Our Health campaign will be loud and visible in the state capital in the coming months, because this is a public health emergency that cannot be ignored.”

“While Washington spends its time cutting health care to generate tax breaks for billionaires, more than 1.6 million Californians – including the people I care for – are watching their costs skyrocket,” said Veronica Palacios, an Eligibility Specialist in Oakland, California and SEIU 1021 member. “This isn’t a game to us; it’s about the lives of our patients and whether health care workers like me will be able to keep our jobs, and Trump’s cuts are already putting us in harm’s way. In Alameda County, Alameda Health System — one of the state’s largest public health systems — is already laying off hundreds of workers and eliminating programs. This will hurt our workers and will devastate our most marginalized communities. Workers and patients across California need protection now. That’s why we are looking to Governor Newsom and state leaders to do the heavy lifting – to find long-term revenue solutions that will protect our livelihoods and provide care for our communities.”

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