Sorensen to share QC stories about cost of slashing health care

Congressman Eric Sorensen is pledging today to bring back to Washington the concerns shared this week by Quad Cities health care providers over what the Moline Democrat called the “deadly consequences” of federal Medicare and Medicaid cuts.

The Monday, June 16, roundtable hosted by the 17th Congressional District lawmaker was held at Community Health Care, 2750 11th St., Rock Island. It included leaders from that agency, the Project of the Quad Cities, the Robert Young Center, UnityPoint Health, Western Illinois Area Agency on Aging, Allure Healthcare Services and Alternatives for the Older Adults. 

In addition to asking providers to share their stories, Mr. Sorensen emphasized his own strong support for Medicaid, Medicare and other such services. He said he’s voted “no” to Trump Administration efforts to gut those programs and will continue to do so.

“This is a sick care system, not a health care system,” Mr. Sorensen said. “The government’s job is to help people. It’s not business. You know, these aren’t cuts. They’re just shifting the burden, and shifting the costs of where people pay.”

He also reminded health care advocates, “I will tell you, it’s not just my vote, right? It’s not just me going back to Washington to say I’m going to do this.”

That’s why he said he needs to hear about the challenges created for providers. Also their impact on those who depend on access to what he called “these lifelines” for recipients.

“I need to advocate and say, ‘I bet you didn’t know this. I bet you didn’t know that,” he told local health care leaders.

Among those concerns he pledged to share is the story of a Medicaid recipient named Jerry. He attended Monday’s roundtable at the CHC clinic. 
Medicaid ‘saved my life’
The longtime addict and diabetic told the congressman, “Medicaid saved my life.” Without it, he said, he wouldn’t have been able to afford the lifesaving treatment he needed.

In the ongoing effort to preserve health care, Mr. Sorensen said, it’s especially important to demonstrate to the vast majority of people who have never been on the government health care assistance program what would happen if these critical government health care programs were cut or eliminated.

He said he talked to neighbors on his own block. They told him they believed the warnings about the negative impact of Medicaid and Medicare cuts were “totally false.”

Meanwhile, he said in an email to Quad Cities media today, June 19, “The truth is, Trump’s so-called ‘big beautiful bill’ could have deadly consequences for neighbors who already face barriers to care.”

The problems are particularly serious for rural communities where it’s already difficult to keep doctors and health care centers. Seniors and nursing homes also will be hit hard.

“In our district, thousands of children, seniors, and working families depend on these programs to stay healthy and safe. I voted ‘no” on these cruel cuts — and I’ll keep fighting to make sure your health care isn’t on the chopping block.

“Thank you all so much for your time, but also for sharing your knowledge with this because I think one of the things that we’re going to have to do is to communicate to people.”

He added “This isn’t politics. This is about deciding what our American values are.”

Health care, he added, “is an American value.”