For God’s sake, for all our sakes, can we strip off the political label, the big R, D or I, that sets us against one another because we vow allegiance to our label and/or to its chief proponents, no matter who gets hurt?

Can we, instead, focus on the issues at hand and determine to the best of our abilities what serves the best interests of all of us?

Take Medicaid and H.R.1, the Reconciliation Bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA). It passed (R label in majority) and now goes to the House (also with an R majority). If it passes, the health and healthcare of millions will suffer.

On the other hand, a minority, the ultra-rich, will benefit financially.

In Cattaraugus County, almost 39% of us rely on Medicaid. That includes infants, school children, lower-paid working men and women and people with disabilities. This county is one of the poorest, oldest and unhealthiest counties in New York state, and more than one out of three of our neighbors, friends, relatives or co-workers would be affected by the OBBBA.

Its proposed stipulations for potential and current Medicaid recipients, along with reduced federal spending, changes to long-term care and restrictions on immigrant eligibility that are included in the proposed legislation would negatively impact the health, perhaps the life, of very many of us.

And to demonstrate how out of sync our legislators are with their constituents, the majority of “we, the people” see the benefit of Medicaid and oppose the legislation. Why should that discrepancy exist?

We assert in our Declaration of Independence that we have inalienable rights, including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Then, isn’t health and needed healthcare basic to that, and wasn’t government established by our founders to assure these rights?

(Athena Godet-Calogeras is the chair of the Health Care Access Coalition in Cattaraugus County.)