Washington, D.C. — As the Trump administration continues to threaten Americans’ health care in the federal courts and propose deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, the Center for American Progress Action Fund is releasing a new video in a social media campaign to educate Americans on what is at stake.
The campaign will tell stories of Americans such as Ann Zielke of Muskego, Wisconsin, whose 7-year-old daughter Isla has autism. Isla’s medical needs are covered under Medicaid, and as Zielke explains in the video, the administration’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without a replacement plan and Trump breaking his central promise not to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security “like every other Republican” puts children’s health at risk.
“I’d find it difficult to believe anything that comes out of his mouth,” says Zielke. “Trying to cut Medicaid, trying to undermine the protections of the ACA is devastating to families like mine.”
President Trump’s most recent budget proposal cuts $1.5 trillion from Medicaid, $25 billion from Social Security, and $845 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years. More than 20 million Americans have been able to obtain health coverage thanks to the ACA, and 135 million receive protections for preexisting conditions through the law. Despite the ACA’s many benefits, the Trump administration has focused on undoing it, either through congressional action or by toppling the law in the courts, which Zielke believes is completely out of touch with what Americans want.
“I don’t think Donald Trump has the first idea what families like ours go through on a daily basis. To tear down the protections of the ACA without a plan is completely reckless,” Zielke says.
Trump also promised to come up with a replacement plan if the ACA is repealed or overturned but has failed to do so. In July, after dozens of failed attempts by the Trump administration to repeal the ACA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit heard oral arguments in the case of Texas v. Azar, a 20-state lawsuit seeking to overturn the entire ACA that is backed by the Trump administration. Caught in the court fight are people like Ann and Isla, as well as the millions of other Americans who would lose their health care coverage and preexisting conditions protections nationwide if Trump’s efforts are successful.
Under the coverage Isla receives through Medicaid, Zielke says that Isla has made progress that they would have never imagined possible. If the Trump administration’s efforts are successful, all of that could be undone. According to Zielke, she cannot place the safety of her daughter on President Trump’s broken promises.
“There is no plan to replace the protections of the ACA with anything,” she says. “Isla and every child deserve the best chance that we can give them at a happy constructive life. I have the hope that I didn’t always have. Continued access to Medicaid is what is going to help her be the best kid, the best Isla she can be.”
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, please contact Freedom Alexander Murphy at [email protected] or 202-796-9712.