From Rev. Susan Andersen

Monroe

To the Editor:

Are you concerned about losing healthcare coverage for yourself, your family or your employees? Or are you forced to delay needed care because you simply can’t afford it?

You are not alone. An estimated 270,000 Wisconsinites will lose their healthcare coverage because of the Budget Reconciliation Act signed into law in July.

The deep cuts to Medicaid, new SNAP (FoodShare) work rules, and the expiration of the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act plans will impact many people we know and love — friends, family, coworkers, employees, and ourselves.

But we are not powerless. If we organize ourselves across lines of division, we can achieve access to healthcare for all. This is not a matter of left and right, but a matter of right and wrong. We can only win if we do the work of bringing people together and uniting in our common interest. And we are doing just that.

On September 6, the Nonviolent Medicaid Army (NVMA) will mobilize across the country to demand an end to the Medicaid cutoffs currently underway and those coming, and an expansion of healthcare to all. Rallies will be held in more than 12 states to publicly expose the impact of Medicaid cuts and the ongoing attacks on healthcare and provide an entry point for people to get organized. The NVMA, the only national network led by people on or unfairly excluded from Medicaid, will be joining with others to hold actions making the invisible visible.

We are joining in this effort here in Monroe with a rally that will take place in the historic square, 1016 16th Ave on September 6 from 2-4 PM. There will be singing and stories told by people struggling to get or keep their healthcare, educating us about the true human consequences of the denial of affordable healthcare. We will end with a funeral march, symbolizing the deaths that have occurred and will occur when people are unable to get the healthcare they need.

The NVMA is picking up Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to build a nonviolent army of the poor to end poverty. We come together for support, survival and strategy with ALL whose families have been harmed and killed by this healthcare system. Please join us for the National Day of Action on Saturday, September 6 on Monroe’s historic square at 2 PM. Together we rise!