American healthcare is on life support, and Republican policies now threaten to pull the plug.<\/p>\n
Last summer, all but five GOP<\/a> lawmakers<\/a> worked with the Trump administration to enact the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act,\u201d<\/a> a law that defunds healthcare for working families, all while funding tax breaks for billionaires. That\u2019s why I testified at an Oct. 8 hearing<\/a> held by House Democrats in Washington, D.C., to speak out against this partisan law\u2014because it will deepen a crisis at every level of our healthcare system.<\/p>\n As an emergency physician in Oregon with Northwest Medicine United, AFT Local 6552, I have had the privilege of serving my community for more than a decade. Emergency physicians treat anyone in need of care, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.<\/p>\n The emergency room is often referred to as the frontline of healthcare, but I think it\u2019s more accurate to call it the epicenter. When the tectonic plates of healthcare policies shift, we feel every tremor and aftershock. We see the effects on our patients, their families, primary care providers, and doctors from every medical specialty.\u00a0<\/p>\n For years, emergency medicine professionals have been sounding the alarm. There are nationwide nurse shortages, declining numbers of primary care providers, overflowing hospitals, and ever-increasing ER wait times. The COVID pandemic worsened these challenges, overwhelming hospitals with more and sicker patients than they had ever seen. Healthcare has never fully recovered. Patients still receive care in hallways and wait hours or even days to be admitted. What is portrayed on the\u00a0HBO Max show\u00a0The Pitt<\/a>\u00a0is what ER doctors and patients see every day.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m more concerned than ever about what the future holds for our patients. Republicans\u2019 tax law slashed Medicaid and did nothing to extend tax credits <\/a>that make healthcare affordable. Unless Congress acts, up to 15 million Americans<\/a>, including small-business owners and working families, risk losing their health insurance by 2034. Millions more<\/a> will see their insurance premiums<\/a> more than double.<\/p>\n Because of the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act,\u201d families will have to choose between paying for insurance, or for groceries or rent. Our friends, family, and neighbors will have to delay care, forgo seeing a doctor, or skip medications because they can\u2019t afford them. People will seek care later, get sicker, and, tragically, suffer or die unnecessarily. <\/p>\n