Local activists and community members rallied alongside Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado on Thursday against potential Medicaid cuts.

The protest, held in Downtown Binghamton, was organized by activist groups Citizen Action and Indivisible Binghamton. Speakers discussed the impact Medicaid has on their personal lives and those in the area, from retirees to people with disabilities to single parents. All emphasized the harm — in terms of public health and economics — that they posited would come from cuts to Medicaid.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a budget proposal in February that would instruct the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid funding, to identify $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade. An analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office indicated that cuts to Medicaid would be unavoidable under the plan.

Linda Quilty, a co-lead of Indivisible Binghamton, spoke first, sharing how Medicaid helps her disabled granddaughter afford services like occupational and physical therapy.

Next was Dr. Chris Ryan, a veteran and retired family practice physician who discussed the importance of Medicaid and other public health funding. He said federal grants are critical for medical research and that Medicaid cuts would hinder preventative care efforts.

“There’s nothing efficient about creating a system in which people are forced to ignore their illness until it’s life-threatening,” Ryan said. “In my view, this is not about efficiency. It’s about cruelty, greed and social control, keeping our most vulnerable neighbors always afraid.”

Another speaker, Amber Brown, described the “life-saving mental health care” Medicaid helped her afford when she began experiencing symptoms of PTSD in 2014, saying the program helped her and her family pay for hospitalization and other health care needs that would have otherwise been unaffordable.

Barbara Mullen, another co-lead at Indivisible Binghamton, discussed the history behind Medicaid’s 1965 enactment and said 56,474 Broome County residents — around a quarter of the population — are Medicaid beneficiaries and that 51 percent of that care is federally funded, with the rest split between county and state governments.

“If Congress’ proposed cut of $880 billion over the next 10 years happens, it will decimate not only the country’s health care plan but right here in Broome County,” Mullen said. “These are big numbers — millions of people and billions of dollars — but in reality, as the doc said, it comes down to our neighbors, our grandparents. It comes down to a disabled student at school, one of our neighbors who we have to drive to dialysis once a week or to a chemo clinic. This is not okay.”

Ann Marie Taliercio, the president of the Central New York Area Labor Federation, discussed the importance of social safety net programs for working people and pushed back on the idea that these services are handouts. She said workers earned the right to participate in programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“Instead of giving all these tax breaks, and doing stuff for the richest Americans, we deserve to have a government that actually helps out all of its people,” said Josh Ludden, a field coordinator for the labor federation.

Delgado concluded the protest. He advocated for continued activism and protest, telling attendees not to just blame the current administration but to examine the “root causes” behind social safety net cuts, which he argued were class conflicts.

“When we talk about cuts to Medicaid, when we talk about cuts to SNAP, when we talk about cuts to education and cuts to our most vulnerable, it’s about cuts to that literal safety net that captures our most vulnerable,” Delgado said. “We are talking about a direct assault on our values and on our principles, a direct assault on freedom, a direct assault on equality, a direct assault on compassion, truth, justice, empathy, a direct assault on our humanity.”

Speaking to reporters, Delgado said he disagreed with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s decision to support the Republican-drafted continuing resolution two weeks ago, saying Schumer “should have fought.”

Addressing what the governor’s office could do to supplement Medicaid funding losses, Delgado said a plan should be organized and that New York has a responsibility to set an example.

“Whether it’s in the health care space, whether it’s in the education space, in the SNAP space, you know, I don’t think it should just be a scenario where we’re just gonna wait and see,” Delgado told Pipe Dream. “I think it’s important for us to figure out where we can be more intentional with our resources, where we can direct them in a more tangible way to meet these direct needs.”

Quilty said that Indivisible Binghamton has held protests against cuts to “everything on the chopping block,” including the Department of Education, federal worker protections, veteran services and Medicaid. She said the group was founded after the 2016 election and has redoubled protesting, phone-banking and door-knocking efforts after Trump’s reelection.

“These cuts are not just numbers on a page — they represent real people’s lives, families, and futures,” said Ravo Root, a lead organizer at Citizen Action. “We will not stand by while these radical Republicans attempt to dismantle programs that millions of New Yorkers rely on for their very survival. We are here to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, and we will not back down until these cuts are stopped.”