As a nurse practitioner, I’ve spent over a decade working with sufferers throughout among the most susceptible 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 thousands and thousands. In Washington alone, we’re going through a projected 17% minimize 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 rapid changes as hospitals shut and providers are decreased.
It’s uncommon to see complete 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 occasion loyalty over sufferers by voting for the invoice.
Probably the most 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” choice. “I labored my butt off to guarantee 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 recommend 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 Heart in Seattle — a public hospital and the only Degree 1 trauma and burn heart serving the complete 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 look after the complete area. There isn’t any state-level border with regards 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 as a consequence of value. We would be the ones looking for therapy choices that don’t bankrupt households, as a result of lawmakers who voted for this invoice gained’t be there when these inconceivable selections have to be made.
And let’s be clear: A lot 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 on. 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 occupation 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 way of 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 capacity, however we additionally acknowledge an obligation to advocate for the techniques that maintain their lives.
