Lynn residents and local workers held a walkout at Lynn Common Wednesday protesting the Trump administration’s threat to cut billions of federal funding to Medicaid.
Protesters held up signs that read “Hands off Medicaid, hands off democracy” and “Defend healthcare, fight facism.”
Started by Hannah Larsen, a physician in Lynn who works with clients with severe mental health issues, “Walkouts for Medicaid” is a weekly protest that began eight weeks ago.
“I figured I would come out for 30 minutes a week and just start raising awareness in the town where I work,” she said. “I hope that other people do similar things elsewhere.”
Medicaid is a joint program between state and the federal government to cover medical costs for people with limited resources and income. The House Republican budget, passed in February, requires deep cuts to Medicaid.
“A lot of working families, a lot of kids are covered by Medicaid,” Larsen said. “[Cuts] would just be devastating to communities with a lot of lower-income folks.”
Larsen said Medicaid has been essential to the mental health system in Massachusetts. Mental health treatment is one of many areas that would suffer if Medicaid faced serious cuts, she said.
“Those funds are super important for access for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities,” Larsen said.
Elizabeth Kurtz, 82-year-old Lynn resident, said she was attending the demonstration for the third time.
“I’m a pissed-off old lady,” she said. “I am going to go to every place that I’m physically able to.”
Kurtz said she worries about people with disabilities not being able to receive services they need, having worked 16 years as a job coach for people with developmental disabilities.
“These people worked. They had homes. They had friends,” she said. “They were all on Medicaid. What’s going to happen to them?”
Republican lawmakers are considering adding a requirement that enrollees be employed to receive Medicaid benefits, but Larsen said many disabled people are unable to work or maintain jobs due to their mental illnesses.
“It seems like the bureaucracy of running a program that checks on people’s work status actually costs much more than the savings,” Larsen said. “It is such a burdensome system in the places where it’s been tried.”
Leslie L., an after school teacher and artist who lives in Lynn, expressed her frustrations with the Trump administration’s efforts to cut Medicaid.
“I am a believer in social safety nets,” she said. “I care about poor people. I care about people getting health care.”
Leslie said she currently has privatized health care through her job but may need Medicaid benefits after retirement.
Another Lynn resident, Frances Noone, attended the demonstration for the first time.
“In the United States, we have a horribly narrow view of who is valuable. That is the healthy, working person between the ages of 20 and 64,” Noone said. “Every single one of us is important at every age.”
After losing her job in 2019, Noone said she relies on Medicaid while working as a substitute teacher in Lynn Public Schools. She said she still receives services for many medical conditions through MassHealth, a program that combines Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Noone said she came to the walkout as a way to connect with an issue that will impact her community directly.
“I know there are so many people in Lynn who depend on Medicare and Medicaid,” she said.
Larsen said she finds the weekly demonstration to be “a source of self-care” amidst turmoil across the country.
“It’s been really nice to come out each week and take action,” she said. “I just hope it keeps building and that people from the community keep joining.”
