As a nurse practitioner, I’ve spent over a decade working with sufferers throughout among the most weak moments of their lives. In Washington state, we had been the primary to face the COVID-19 pandemic, and we’re nonetheless feeling the long-term pressure on our well being care system. However I’ve by no means felt extra unsure about the way forward for well being care on this nation as I do now, due to the passage of H.R. 1.
On July 4, President Donald Trump signed the tax and spending invoice into legislation — laws that well being care professionals and leaders throughout the political spectrum warned would devastate entry to care and jeopardize the well being of hundreds of thousands. In Washington alone, we’re dealing with a projected 17% lower in Medicaid funding, or $36 billion over 10 years — among the steepest losses within the nation. Whereas the numerous cuts within the invoice gained’t take impact till after the 2026 midterm elections, sufferers will see some quick changes as hospitals shut and providers are lowered.
It’s uncommon to see whole alignment throughout well being care teams, however H.R. 1 led to unified and pressing opposition. Nurses, physicians, public well being leaders, hospitals and even conservative-leaning legislators raised the alarm. And but, a number of Pacific Northwest lawmakers like U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse and Michael Baumgartner, each Washington Republicans, ignored us. Two of the three nurses in Congress, Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Rep. Sheri Biggs, R-S.C., shamefully dismissed the loud warnings from their very own nursing associations and selected celebration loyalty over sufferers by voting for the invoice.
Some of the pivotal particular person swing votes got here from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska. Her “sure” vote successfully ensured its passage, regardless of her personal admission that it was, in her phrases, an “agonizing” resolution. “I labored my butt off to ensure that Alaskans weren’t going to be penalized, and we’re not going to be harmed” she said.
However realistically, Alaskans is not going to be remoted from the implications of this laws. Sen. Murkowski’s vote and rationale counsel a misunderstanding of simply how interconnected our area’s well being care infrastructure is.
When Alaskans want essentially the most superior trauma or burn care, they’re typically transferred to Harborview Medical Middle in Seattle — a public hospital and the only Degree 1 trauma and burn heart serving all the Pacific Northwest, together with Alaska, Idaho and Montana. The pressure that this invoice will placed on funding for Washington’s well being care system will have an effect on entry to take care of all the area. There is no such thing as a state-level border in relation to saving lives or needing extremely specialised care.
Ultimately, well being care staff would be the ones navigating overcrowded emergency rooms, hospital/clinic closures and sufferers arriving sicker as a result of they delayed care attributable to price. We would be the ones looking for remedy choices that don’t bankrupt households, as a result of lawmakers who voted for this invoice gained’t be there when these not possible choices should be made.
And let’s be clear: Lots of these lawmakers who referred to as us “heroes” in the course of the pandemic now dismiss our pleas for assist. They count on us to remain silent and keep it up. We should firmly reject this assumption by elevating our tales to convey the actual influence of this dangerous laws.
The general public’s belief within the nursing career could run deep, however belief alone doesn’t fund trauma care, maternal well being or behavioral well being providers. It doesn’t substitute the trillions in federal {dollars} stripped from our well being care system. Nurses are trusted as a result of we communicate reality to energy, which is what we should do now to guard our sufferers
When the fallout of H.R. 1 begins — when hospitals shut, sufferers undergo, and prices rise — sufferers and nurses should remind our communities of who’s accountable, significantly earlier than the subsequent election. We should maintain our elected officers accountable by nonviolent protest, sharing our tales and exercising our proper to vote. Nurses are dedicated to caring for our sufferers to the most effective of our skill, however we additionally acknowledge an obligation to advocate for the programs that maintain their lives.
