It is our turn to build a new healthcare system

President Lyndon B. Johnson has not signed the Medicaid and Medicare law for 60 years, and these programs have built a safety net for American families. Sixty years since defenders, organizers and families have gathered and refused to let our country abandon adults as they age in poverty and low -income workers while they were fighting to afford health care. But following the greatest reduction in Medicaid in history, it is not an ordinary birthday.

Today, nearly 80 million people are counting on Medicaid for care. To cover 40% of all deliveries with almost 70% of home care for the elderly and disabled, Medicaid is more than a line. It has represented a promise that no matter the ups and downs of life, our ability to take care of each other, from generation to generation, will be protected.

The discounts of $ 1 billion included in the massive budget bill were signed in July, however, took care of 17 million people in danger. Caregivers, direct care workers, disabled and chronic patients, and families who juggle all this will bring the weight of pain. This great Laid bill tells us that our care and our lives are disposable.

The promise of Medicaid is broken. But following this devastation, the dream of something better is in sight. We are fortunate to shape the future by building a healthcare system that leaves no one behind. From health care to paid family and medical leave, from affordable and quality child care to aging and disability care – a new care system that reflects real realities and pressure on our families has been expected for a long time.

Even before these cuts, these programs were insufficient, sub-financed and inaccessible to far too much. Millions of us already had trouble accessing the care we need and that we deserve. Family caregivers, sandwiched between raising a young child and supporting aging parents, distress under the weight of the financial and emotional cost. Care workers occupy second and third jobs because they cannot afford to support their own family on the wages of poverty they earn. More than 700,000 eligible families are blocked on waiting lists for home care, and rural nursing homes are falling, without the workforce to meet demand.

With our existing care system on the edge and care for millions of people suspended in the balance, the question of what is coming is us to answer. It is now time to build towards a future where no one should sail alone for illness, disability, aging or parenting. A future where families have time and support they need to deal with each other without sacrificing income or stability. A future where care agents are supported and recognized as essential, with good wages, strong protections and dignity at work. In this future, care is not consumable; It is a priority as the foundation of a flourishing society.

But this future does not happen to us – we build it together.

Just as the generations before us fought for a guarantee of health care and economic security, offering American social security, Medicaid, Medicare and the American law with disabilities, this is now our turn. These programs have not occurred; They were built by people who dared to demand more and organized to make it real. We have to follow their example and fight for more than saving the bare minimum.

At the end of July, care between generations and our partners welcomed hundreds of families in the National Mall for 60 hours, organizing a vigil to mark the 60th anniversary since the creation of Medicaid. We gathered in our shared fear of what MEDICAID means. We have raised our voices to let our elected representatives know that we will not leave their cruelty unanswered. And we have let our rage trigger our commitment to ensure that the next 60 years of care are not like that.

We deserve politicians that allow us to prosper. To get there, we have to continue to come together – not only in moments of crisis, but in our daily life. Each of us must commit to presenting ourselves and organizing others to demand a change.

Only, we can plant the seeds for what comes then: a future of care that is worth fighting.