NV-02’s $1.1 billion in health care funding is on the chopping block so lawmakers can gift tax cuts for corporations and billionaires

On March 20, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center nurses will gather at the district office of U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei in Reno, Nev., to protest proposed Medicaid cuts that will deteriorate health care services in the region, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU). Along with community organizations and Nevada Medicaid and Check Up patients, nurses will present a check made out to the "Billionaire Class” paid for by “Working People” totaling $1,091,427,707 – the amount of Medicaid funding in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional district at risk if Rep. Amodei votes to gut Medicaid to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

“If Representative Mark Amodei votes to cut Medicaid, he would be writing a check to billionaires at the expense of the lives and livelihoods of the people he was elected to represent,” said Laura Parkhouse, RN. 

Nearly a fifth of Rep. Amodei’s district — or more than 148,000 constituents — receives life-saving health care access provided by Nevada Medicaid and Nevada Check Up, the state’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 $1.1B 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. Amodei votes for GOP budget 
Where: Rep. Amodei’ district office at 5310 Kietzke Lane, Suite 103, Reno, NV
When: Thursday, March 20 from 10-10:30 a.m. PT

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.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.