CA-22’s $4.7 billion in Medicaid funding is on the chopping block so lawmakers can gift tax cuts for corporations and billionaires

On March 20, Dignity Health Bakersfield Memorial Hospital nurses will gather at the district office of U.S. Rep. David Valadao in Bakersfield, Calif., to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid that would deteriorate health care services in the region, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU). Along with community organizations and Medi-Cal patients, nurses will present a check made out to the "Billionaire Class” paid for by “Working People” totaling $4,686,478,972 – the amount of Medicaid funding in California’s 22nd Congressional district at risk if Rep. Valadao votes to gut Medicaid to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

“We urge Rep. Valadao to vote no on cuts to Medicaid because the majority of his constituents depend on Medicaid,” said Realon Fuller-Altman, RN in the family birth center at Bakersfield Memorial. “If he votes to cut Medicaid, billionaires get a check they don’t need at the expense of his own constituents and all working people.”

Nearly two-thirds of Rep. Valadao’s district – or more than 500,000 constituents – receive life-saving health care access through Medi-Cal, California’s health care programs for the elderly, disabled, and the young, which are paid for primarily by federal Medicaid funding. 

What: Nurses protest Medicaid cuts and deliver $4.7B check paid for by “working people” to the “billionaire class” – representing the amount of health care funding that could be diverted to fund tax breaks for the wealthy if Rep. Valadao votes for GOP budget
Where: Rep. Valadao’s district office at 2700 M Street, Suite 250B, Bakersfield, CA
When: Thursday, March 20 from 9:00-9:30 a.m. PT 

“The people of Bakersfield cannot afford cuts to Medicaid,” said Denira English, RN in the emergency department. “If these cuts go through, the most vulnerable – the elderly, disabled, young, and low-income – will suffer because they will lose access to care. They will be forced to wait until their health conditions deteriorate, and when they seek treatment, they will do so in our emergency rooms. This will further add strain to our emergency services, lengthening wait times and delaying care. We need Rep. Valadao and our elected leaders to do right by our patients and the Bakersfield community.”

According to 2023 data, more than one in five people in the U.S. had health care coverage funded by Medicaid that year. In states like California, New York, West Virginia, and Louisiana, more than one in four people were covered under Medicaid in 2023.

In addition to the tens of millions of people covered under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies – including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) – provide essential research, guidance, and regulation that nurses and health care workers rely on for both patient care and their own health and safety. Moreover, tens of thousands of nurses are employed by the Veterans Health Administration (VA), the nation’s largest public sector health care system, which is also facing federal defunding.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.