A group of 1199ers from New York’s Capital/Hudson Valley region boarded Amtrak to Washington, D.C. and joined other 1199SEIU New York members on December 10 for three days of public policy education and visits with elected officials. The event was organized by the Healthcare Education Project (HEP), a community-based advocacy organization committed to improving healthcare in New York State through education, grassroots organizing and coalition-building.

Kim Lyons, a unit secretary and 1199SEIU delegate at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, said, “We healthcare workers went to Washington to tell our Congressional delegations not to support any major cuts to healthcare services, which are on the table for both budget and debt ceiling talks.”

President Obama’s budget proposal for 2014 includes both spending cuts and revenue increases. There are $400 billion in cuts over ten years, mostly from Medicare and Medicaid. And more than three-quarters of the Medicare cuts come from reductions in payments to Medicare providers.

“We told our congressional representatives how these projected cuts could affect those of us who work in healthcare,” said Jennifer Marray, a radiological technologist at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital. “Very simply, cuts to providers are cuts to patient care. That affects healthcare workers, the care we are able to provide, and our livelihoods.”

Medicare cuts would include Graduate Medical Education, reimbursement of hospital “bad debt,” and hospital outpatient reimbursements.

“At least one and maybe more or all of these issues affect the financial standing of the hospitals where we work—so all of us are concerned” Marray said. “At St. Luke’s in Newburgh, we have a high Medicare and Medicaid population, and we are already seeing the hospital cut corners. That’s not good for anyone. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to voice my unease.”

In addition to the 2014 budget, healthcare workers have an interest in the debt ceiling talks. The debt ceiling is usually raised every year so that the country can pay its bills, which includes Medicare and Medicare payments to providers, military pay, social security payments and interest on debt. Congressional Republicans argue that instead of raising the debt ceiling, the government should cut spending and use that money to pay its debts. They are using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to cut Obamacare and other vital services that support working and poor families.