An ‘early and chilly’ standout to support Dems’ push for health care in shutdown standoff
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
NORTHAMPTON — Four people showed up outside Cooley Dickinson Hospital Monday morning to voice support for public health amidst the standoff in Washington over Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The standout group was from Indivisible Northampton – Swing Left Western Massachusetts, which has been holding events in front of the hospital during the federal government shutdown. The four demonstrators stuck yard signs by the road: "Care over cuts," one side said. "Trump's shutdown. Dems hold firm," the other side proclaimed.
As morning commuters scraped off windshields and headed out into the early morning sun, the four had donned mittens and puffy jackets for, in the words of participant Paola Tayvah, an "early and chilly" standout.
The group had spread out, taking the corners of the intersection at Locust and North Elm streets outside the hospital.
As the federal shutdown stretches into its fourth week, Democratic lawmakers in Washington are pushing to extend expiring tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, which has led to a standoff with Republicans over the funding of the government.
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, previously said about 29,000 people in the 1st Congressional District rely on the subsidies.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate last week, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey described the cuts to health care as a game of Jenga. Health insurance costs will jump for 337,000 residents in the state if the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire, he said. Should the changes in the budget reconciliation bill passed during the summer go through, the state could lose out on $2 billion in Medicaid funding, imperiling 19,000 health care jobs. At the same time, $1.3 billion in National Institutes of Health funding for medical research in the state was frozen or canceled.
"We know how Jenga ends," Markey said. "The tower collapses. That is where we are heading right now."
The pressure for lawmakers to act is building. Some federal employees, such as air traffic controllers, are working without pay during the shutdown. Reacting to news that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will tell states to not process food assistance funds at the beginning of November due to the shutdown, Markey said Friday the move was " Robin Hood in reverse " and would affect 1.1 million residents who receive the benefits across the state.
Tayvah, holding a sign that proclaimed, "Project 2025 a threat to public health," moved from traffic island to traffic island, at one point telling a curly haired bicyclist to wear a helmet. ("I'm standing in for your grandmother," she said.)
"I feel it's essential to be out here for public awareness," said Tayvah. "Some people just don't know that this is going to impact them."
The cuts to health care, she said, affects her children. They will affect her eventually, she added, because she's on Medicare.
She was asked: Have the standouts been successful? Just then, a driver tapped their horn in support.
"There's your answer," Tayvah said.
Across the street, John Majercak held a sign expressing love for Cooley Dickinson, where he and his family have received care. The independent said the standout was not an anti-Trump protest. It is meant to express support for health care, the community and the hospital behind him.
The tax credits under the Affordable Care Act actually affect everyone, as Majercak sees it. Should they go away, "That puts a strain on the whole health care system," he said. "So even if you have private health insurance, that's going to hurt you and it's going to hurt small hospitals in rural areas."
Drivers who stopped at the traffic light spoke with him, one asking what the protest was about. Another shouted across a lane of traffic that President Donald Trump was the antichrist in the White House.
Asked about a report that the federal government will not process food assistance funds for millions of people, Majercak said the Trump administration wrested control of the purse from Congress, and is intending to be cruel.
"They're trying to punish people and blame it on Democrats that are holding their ground," Majercak said. "And they're going to keep taking away benefits and destroying the government whether there's a shutdown or not. And it's gone on far too long."
As the standout wound down, a wild turkey hen — believed to be a frequent visitor to the area that nurses at the hospital named Sandwich — wandered to the edge of the intersection, her clucks turning to vapor in the air.
Other standouts in front of the hospital have been better attended, the group said, such as those scheduled around lunchtime Wednesdays. About 30 people showed up to the first shutdown standout Oct. 4, according to Majercak.
For 27 years, Paula Graffius worked at Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, and remembers a time before the Affordable Care Act when patients without health insurance would be handed bills totaling thousands of dollars — and the hospital would have to absorb the cost.
"I just think everything is coming to a head now," Graffius said. "And it's a pending crisis for our children and elderly, disabled. Everybody that depends on health care, which is everybody, is going to be affected."
She rose before dawn to travel to the standout from Turners Falls to remind passersby of the stakes.
"I want people to be aware that this is coming down and it's not just a rumor, it's not a hoax," she said. "And when it hits them and it hurts them, it's too late."
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