Democrats are fighting back against Donald Trump and Republicans’ ‘Big Ugly Law,’ which guts Medicaid by $1 trillion, and are calling on Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan funding bill that protects Americans’ health care

Rep. Pete Aguilar recently held a press conference at the San Bernardino Adult Day Health Care Center in partnership with the California Association of Adult Day Services to highlight how Donald Trump and Republicans’ policies to gut health care threaten adult day services and health care for seniors and people with disabilities in the Inland Empire. Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, covers 100 percent of the program participants’ care at San Bernardino Adult Day Health Care Center, which includes meals, access to preventive care and a space to socialize. Congressional Democrats are fighting to protect health care centers like these from Republican budget cuts and are calling on Republicans to fix the health care crisis they created with their Big Ugly Law. 

“Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have launched an all-out attack on the health care of seniors and adults with disabilities in the Inland Empire,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar. “For the people who depend on adult day services at places like the San Bernardino Adult Day Health Care Center, Medicaid isn’t just health insurance—it’s a lifeline that allows them to live with independence and dignity. Republican cuts to health care could force those who rely on adult day services into nursing homes or long-term care facilities, and that’s only if they can afford it. Democrats in Congress are fighting back against these harmful Republican cuts and are working to pass a bipartisan government funding bill that protects health care for people in the Inland Empire and across the country.”

“These historic Medicaid cuts create new uncertainties about the sustainability of thousands of Adult Day Health Care centers (ADHCs) across the country, including the more than 300 centers here in California that serve about 44,000 older and disabled Californians, rely almost entirely on Medi-Cal funding, and are also known as Community Based Adult Services (CBAS) centers,” said Brian Rutledge, Executive Director of the California Association of Adult Day Services. “The billions and billions of dollars that the White House is taking away from Medicaid – which we call Medi-Cal here in California – will make it harder to continue supporting our most vulnerable loved ones, especially those with dementia, developmental disabilities, and other chronic medical conditions.”