I recently attended a rally in support of rural health care and our local hospital in Morton Washington. It was organized by East Lewis County Democrats and Rural Lewis County Indivisibles. There were people in attendance from all over Lewis County.
People were inspired to attend because of what the “Big Beautiful Bill” will do to health care in America, especially rural America.
According to Georgetown University, 21% of the people in Lewis County currently are enrolled on Medicaid (known as Apple Health). The loss of Medicaid to seniors and people under the age of 19 would be catastrophic for rural residents using hospitals and nursing homes.
Our rally was visited by the Arbor Health CEO Robert Mach and Hospital Commissioner Wes McMahan. These gentlemen went down our line of sign holders and shook hands with every one of us, thanking us for our support.
The response we received from most people in the cars that passed by was overwhelmingly positive, with a lot of honking, hand-waving and thumbs up. A minority of people responded with the one-fingered salute and curses. It made me wonder what anyone could have against maintaining available health care. Evidently, these folks never plan on being sick or injured.
These looming cuts to health care won’t begin until after the midterm elections next year and won’t be fully implemented until 2032.
Supporters of the current administration won’t understand what has been done to them until after they vote in favor of this administration again. America is sleepwalking our way into becoming a fascist state.
Let this sink in and imagine a world where only the wealthy have access to life-saving medical care. These cuts are a big step in the march back in time to a world of royalty and peasantry.
In upcoming elections, we peasants need to band together in solidarity and vote in our own interests.
Cecelia Callison
Morton
