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Panelists warn Medicaid cuts and agency reorganizations will strain health care and worker safety
Summary
On a panel titled 'Defending Our Public Institutions,' union and state speakers warned that recent federal Medicaid reductions and the HHS reorganization of NIOSH risk large coverage losses, rural hospital strain, fewer workplace-safety experts and increased injuries; they urged state-level mitigation and coordinated organizing.
A panel at the Washington State Labor Council convention titled "Defending Our Public Institutions" brought together union leaders, a state occupational-safety researcher and an attorney to assess recent federal policy changes and their likely effects.
Sterling Harders, president of SEIU 775, said the recent federal budget action will produce historic cuts to health care and estimated millions could lose Medicaid coverage. "What just happened was that they cut health care, they cut Medicaid — 16,000,000 people are estimated to be gonna lose health care as a result," Harders told the audience, and he warned of particular harm to caregivers and rural hospitals.
David Benato of the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries described the HHS reorganization that moved NIOSH out of the CDC and said it has left experienced occupational-safety staff displaced. "When you lose people who know something, what do you have? You have no data. You have no expertise," Benato said, warning of lost research on hazards from silica exposure to wildfire smoke, and the loss of regional safety centers.
Panelists recommended a combined strategy of state-level protections, legal challenges, aggressive organizing, and targeted budget advocacy. Scott Edwards, a trial attorney, added that state policymakers can act to protect legal remedies and worker rights when federal avenues weaken.
