H. Con. Res. 14

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALDWIN. Madam President, I rise this evening once again to highlight the stories of Wisconsinites who would be impacted by cuts to Medicaid that my Republican colleagues are proposing.

Earlier this evening, I talked about children, babies, our most vulnerable. Now I would like to talk about older adults.

I rise to share the story of Renee. Renee is a 60-year-old woman. She lives in Milwaukee, WI. In October 2023, Renee was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. It had metastasized to her brain, her lungs, and her liver.

She depended upon Medicaid for that diagnosis through a program that Congress created, and she also depends on Medicaid--or BadgerCare, as we call it in the State of Wisconsin--for her treatment.

Without Medicaid, she said, ``[I] would be forced to ration or forgo cancer treatment--hastening my death--or send me and my husband into bankruptcy trying to keep me alive.''

In March, last month, I brought Renee to President Trump's State of the Union Address to show this President who his massive cuts to Medicaid will hurt.

Medicaid provides health coverage to 7.2 million seniors nationwide. That is millions of Americans just like Renee who rely on Medicaid for the lifesaving treatment they need.

I also heard from Linda. Linda lives in Viroqua, WI, where her husband and she run a dairy farm that they bought nearly 22 years ago. Linda served her community for 30 years as a registered nurse, working primarily with new moms and babies, before she was forced to retire due to chronic health issues. Since then, she and her husband have relied on Medicaid and he on Medicare for their healthcare because they cannot afford other types of insurance.

Like so many dairy farms in the State of Wisconsin, Linda and her husband work on very tight margins, made even tighter by Trump's first- term tariffs, which, according to Linda, ``put us into poverty.'' This was in Trump's first term. Now they are staring down another Trump trade war and wondering how it is going to impact their dairy operation.

She wrote:

I am not proud that I have to use Medicaid and Medicare for insurance, but at 63 years of age, it appears that I will not be able to work at a job that provides health coverage or a living wage. If the cuts in Medicaid become a reality, not only will we be homeless . . . but we will not be able to access the healthcare and drug coverage we need to have quality of life. We never thought we would need government healthcare, but here we are, and the outlook has darkened considerably for many dairy farmers since January.

This fight to protect Medicaid for seniors is personal to me and dozens of Wisconsinites. My own mother relied on Medicaid at the end of her life to afford nursing home care, as do the majority of Wisconsinites in skilled nursing homes. Six in ten residents in our State's nursing homes use Medicaid, or over 10,000 seniors who might not be able to otherwise afford to have a safe roof over their heads.

Medicaid also supports more than 43,000 elderly or disabled adults who receive long-term care at home in our community. That includes people like Tammy in Monona, WI, whose father Bud battled dementia at the end of his life. Medicaid allowed Tammy's dad to stay in his home for the last 5 years of his life with the support of at-home caregivers.

She wrote to me:

People should be able to choose where and how they spend their last days in life. Medicaid allowed my dad to stay in his own home, with familiar surroundings that helped ground him when his dementia was the most challenging for him. Please continue funding Medicaid to be able to help other frail elders stay in their own homes.

There are so many pleas that I hear from my constituents in every corner of our State, and it is these constituents that I hope President Trump and congressional Republicans are listening to when they think about ripping away Medicaid to pay for their tax cuts for big corporations and billionaires.

Seniors like Renee and Linda know that Medicaid is a lifeline for Americans who otherwise would have nowhere to turn. It is Wisconsinites--who will face bankruptcy just to stay well--who will pay for Donald Trump's giveaway to the top 1 percent.

I cannot believe that my Republican colleagues are even considering a plan that is so backward and so cruel for hard-working Wisconsinites and seniors. This is wrong, and we must continue to fight back and say loudly and clearly: Hands off Medicaid.

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today for the third time this evening on behalf of Wisconsinites in rural communities whose access to healthcare will be devastated by cuts to Medicaid.

Earlier this evening, I talked about the impact that cuts to Medicaid would have on children and babies and then about the impact that cuts to Medicaid would have on seniors and older adults.

But in my home State of Wisconsin, about a quarter of the population lives in rural areas, or roughly 1.4 million people do. And across the United States, about 60 million people live in rural areas.

When I travel around Wisconsin, I hear about several challenges that our rural communities face, from the lack of high-speed broadband to ensuring businesses have enough workers to thrive. But the No. 1 challenge that I hear about, time and again, is about rural access to healthcare.

Wisconsinites in rural communities face long drives and wait times to see a doctor. And for specialized healthcare, many of my constituents are looking at hours in the car just to get the care that they need and that they deserve.

That is why I have made it my mission to lower healthcare costs and expand care across the State, but especially for critical-access hospitals in our rural communities.

I am proud of our work because I know what a lifeline our rural hospitals are for Wisconsinites, from emergency care to having a place to get regular checkups. But I know we have work to do.

In the past 10 years, 120 rural hospitals have either closed or ceased offering inpatient services across this country. That is 120 communities and hundreds of thousands of people whose healthcare options have diminished or vanish overnight.

Most recently, in the State of Wisconsin, the closure of two HSHS hospitals and more than a dozen--well, over a dozen--clinics in Western Wisconsin left 1,400 workers out of a job and thousands of Wisconsinites with less access to emergency care, inpatient beds, mental health care, treatment for opioid addiction, and labor and delivery services.

Nearly half of all rural hospitals nationwide operate at a deficit, especially in States like Wisconsin that have not taken up the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion option for adults.

In a struggle to keep their doors open, many rural hospitals opt to close less lucrative units, such as maternity wards. That means women driving further for prenatal checkups or to give birth.

For the hospitals left and places that provide care, there has largely been one saving grace: Medicaid. Medicaid--and Medicaid expansion, in particular--is a crucial funding source for cash-strapped rural hospitals. And it makes sense. Children and people in rural areas are more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid than those in suburban and urban areas.

In 10 States and Territories, more than half of Medicaid and CHIP enrollees live in rural areas, including 1 in 3 children in Wisconsin's rural communities.

Medicaid ensures access to a critical range of services for people living in our rural areas, including covering nearly half of all births.

And, like other States, our rural hospitals are already too few and far between. Closing any more down would be devastating for people's health and our economy. But those are the consequences we face if Donald Trump and Republicans cut Medicaid to pay for their billionaire tax cuts.

It is not just blue States. It is not just big cities that should be bracing for impact if Republicans get their wish.

Massive cuts to Medicaid will undoubtedly force more rural hospitals to shutter. That means more Americans suffering from a stroke or heart attack not getting the lifesaving care they need until it may be too late. That means more children in rural communities not getting to regular checkups, and it means more expectant mothers facing roadblocks to getting prenatal care.

Let's be clear. The health and lives of rural Americans are on the chopping block if Republicans and Donald Trump pass their plan to gut Medicaid--and all to make superwealthy Americans even richer. It is wrong, and I for one plan to fight back.

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