Rep. Andrea Salinas Delivers Remarks and Questions Witnesses about the Impact of the Republican Health Care Crisis on Women and Caregivers

Click hereto watch Rep. Salinas' full remarks. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) joined the Democratic Steering & Policy Committee to deliver remarks and question witnesses about how Republicans' health care crisis will severely impact women, especially those in the "sandwich generation" who care for both their children and elderly parents. Rep. Salinas warned that Republicans' cuts could lead to worse outcomes for patients and force women out of the workforce entirely.

A transcript of Salinas' remarks is available below:

Thank you to the Steering and Policy Committee. Thank you, Chairwoman and Democratic Women's Caucus and to our panelists today for this informative hearing.

In particular, I want to talk about the impacts these cuts will have, as you've been talking about, on women. And I want to focus on one woman in my district in particular, Nancy.

I met her last spring, and she works at home as a health worker in Salem in my district. She earns a living by caring for her mother and aunt, who are both disabled and blind.

Because Oregon is one of the many states that has expanded their Medicaid program, Nancy can earn a living by taking care of her mother and her aunt in their home, instead of in a facility.

However, because of the Republicans' deep, steep cuts to Medicaid, the funding for Nancy's mother and aunt's care, which Nancy relies on for income, is now at terrible risk.

So, with Republicans' cuts to care, the ACA, Medicaid, [and] Medicare, people like Nancy are going to face impossible choices.

Will her mother and aunt remain at home receiving patchwork care from family members stretched thin?

Or will they end up in a more expensive care facility with strained, underpaid workforce that she probably won't be able to afford?

Nancy's story is not unique. We're seeing this across the country. Millions of families and caregivers are going to have to face these impossible choices as a result of these Republicans' cruel cuts and shortsighted cuts to the ACA and Medicaid.

And they're going to have an even bigger impact on middle-aged women who are in this sandwich generation, having to care for their children, having to care for their elderly parents. As you can see, I'm part of that generation and feeling this personally.

And so - and this is going to result in what? Women being forced out of the workforce, never to rejoin again, as we saw during Covid.

In fact, in 2023, 87% of home health aides and 80% of personal care aides were women, and 5.5 million Americans utilize home-based care through Medicaid instead of institutional-level care.

These cuts are cruel and shortsighted [and] will disproportionately impact women who are at the core of the care economy. We know that Republicans need to come to the table.

We need to rethink all of this, as my colleague just mentioned.

But with that, my question is for Maria. I'm worried about access to care for the elderly and those people with disabilities. Can you explain how the Medicaid cuts [and] the ACA cuts will put home health professionals out of work, strain capacity of care facilities [and] ultimately raise costs for our families?

###