A few dozen protesters dropped in on Alaska Congressman Nick Begich’s Anchorage office Monday to object to a pending $880 billion cut to Medicaid.
Many of the protesters work in Medicaid-supported jobs as caregivers to vulnerable Alaskans. The work does not pay well and several said they rely on Medicaid themselves.
Begich voted for the Republican budget blueprint that calls for the $880 billion cut. He says he’s trying to sustain Medicaid for future generations by reducing the budget deficit and eliminating government waste.
The protesters gathered at noon and donned trashbags to counter that claim.
“We look silly wearing trash bags because we are not waste,” said Judy Jessen, senior political organizer for SEIU local 775, representing caregivers. “We look silly wearing trashbags trying to take care of somebody because our work is not wasteful.”
The demonstration is part of a week of daily protests aimed at different Trump administration policies, coinciding with the congressional spring recess. President Trump is transforming the federal government in so many ways that opponents in Anchorage are mobilizing strategically: A series of smaller, targeted protests, bolstered by large protests against everything Trump.
Saturday, for the second time this month, an anti-Trump protest drew an estimated two or three thousand people to downtown Anchorage.
Retired kindergarten teacher Maureen Tyskiewicz says she was never one for protests but has now been to several. She attended the Medicaid demonstration with her adult son in mind. He requires full-time care, she said, and relies on Medicaid and other safety-net programs.
“I'm scared to death, now that I worked so hard fighting the red tape and everything, that it's gonna be taken away,” she said. “And I’m almost 70.”
She said she won’t be around to fight for him forever “and I need to make sure he's set up.”
The $880 billion cut pending in Congress amounts to about a third of the Medicaid budget. Protesters say it would slice deep into the medical insurance program that nearly 40% of Alaskans rely on.
In the lobby of Begich’s office suite, Begich constituent relations manager Denali Tshibaka greeted the protesters and handed out paper and clipboards so they could write messages. The congressman wasn’t in, so caregiver Catherine Nicholas made her case to his staffer.
“We really want to get the message across that this is a life and death situation, and every single one of us, we are not waste,” Nicholas said. “There isn't a human being that is called waste. So the Trump administration really does need to know who we are and what we are doing and why we care, because we want people to live.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tshibaka answered.
Tshibaka thanked the protesters and said she’d make sure to pass the message to Begich.
A separate group met at 4 p.m. Monday at the Anchorage offices of Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan to deliver written comments about Medicaid.
The theme of Tuesday’s noon demonstration at the Congressional offices is education, followed by “worker Wednesday” and “Thriving Thursday,” organizers say.
