‘Protect Medicare, Medicaid, Healthcare’ Local Mobilization To Tell Kevin McCarthy Friday

Mobilization in Bakersfield, Ca. to send message to
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy:
“Don’t put our lives at risk! Protect Medicare and Medicaid! “

Friday, Jan. 27th —Rally 1 pm, March 1:45 pm, Press Conference 2:30 pm
Where: Rally: Yokuts Park, 4200 Empire Dr., Bakersfield, Ca.

Senior Citizens, Kern County Residents, Nurses and Healthcare Providers, Demand Rep. McCarthy Protect and Expand His Constituents’ Healthcare

BAKERSFIELD, CA — Hundreds will visit House Majority Leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s district office in Bakersfield on Friday, January 27th to send a clear message to the House Majority Leader: “Don’t put our lives at risk! Now is the time to protect, improve and expand Medicare, not cut it!”

Senior citizens with the Kern chapter of the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), registered nurses and healthcare providers, advocates and allies from around California will join local constituents to share their personal stories and serious concerns with Rep. McCarthy, about their future access to the Medicare and Medicaid health services their lives depend on.

As the House Majority Leader, Rep. McCarthy plays a leading role in moving the Republican agenda forward. This agenda includes plans to privatize Medicare, roll back Medicaid expansion, and convert Medicaid to a block grant program, all schemes that put millions of people’s healthcare at risk, say organizers of the statewide mobilization.

McCarthy’s constituents are particularly vulnerable as he represents a district in which nearly 25% live below the poverty line and 51% rely on Medicare and Medicaid programs for their healthcare.

“As a Medicare recipient, I want McCarthy to understand that many of his constituents depend on Medicare and Medicaid for our healthcare here in Kern County,” said 80-year-old Bernice Bonillas, a Kern county resident who worked for the Southern California Gas Company for 40 years. “Recently, I visited McCarthy’s district office and they refused to give me an appointment to talk to him or his staff even though they are paid to work with us – or at least listen to what we have to say. That’s why I’m returning this time with hundreds of others. He needs to listen to us and do what’s right for our communities, not what his political bosses in D.C. want.”

“Rep. McCarthy cannot claim to care about his constituents and at the same time lead the charge in cutting their healthcare. If he wants to improve the lives of the people he is supposed to be serving, he will do whatever it takes to expand our healthcare using the model of Medicare,” said Sandra Reding, an RN in the Operating Room at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, who has worked as a registered nurse in Bakersfield for thirty years.

“House Leader McCarthy’s current proposals will have a devastating impact on my patients. I already see too many people that end up on the operating table because they couldn’t afford the care they needed to manage their conditions – patients with diabetes, hypertension and heart disease for example. We urge the House leader to use his power to improve the lives of his constituents, not put them at risk,” said Reding, who is also a member of the California Nurses Association board of directors.

The state-wide mobilization is organized by a number of organizations including: the Campaign for a Healthy California, California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA), California Labor Federation (CLF), California Nurses Association (CNA), Clinica Monsenor Oscar Romero, Kern, Inyo and Mono Counties Central Labor Council, United Domestic Workers (UDW), United Farmworkers, and the Young Progressive Coalition.

What: Press Conference, rally and march – Hundreds to rally and march to U.S. Rep. McCarthy’s office to deliver messages of concern for their future access to healthcare.
When: Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 – Rally 1 pm, March 1:45 pm, Press Conference 2:30 pm
Where: Rally: Yokuts Park, 4200 Empire Dr., Bakersfield, Ca.
Press Conference: Office of U.S. Rep McCarthy, 4100 Empire Dr. Suite 150, Bakersfield.

VISUALS: Participants will make signs expressing how their health depends on Medicare and Medicaid (aka MediCal in California), and how they will be harmed if their care is cut. Hundreds of signs will be delivered to, and posted at Rep. McCarthy’s office. There will also be a video and photo booth where participants will document their healthcare stories, and their visions for a future with quality healthcare for all.

This is part of the January 20, 2017 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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