NYSNA Update: May 23, 2025
NYSNA Honors Memorial Day
On this Memorial Day, we remember and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.
We Fight to Save Medicaid Because Medicaid Saves Lives!
On Thursday, May 22, the House of Representatives passed a consequential budget bill that includes hundreds of billions in cuts to social programs, including Medicaid. If the bill advances through the Senate and gets signed into law, it will decimate funding for this life-saving program, other healthcare programs like New York’s Essential Plan, and other social safety net programs. More than 1 million of our patients — including some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers — will lose access to healthcare, entire hospitals could close, and thousands of nurses and healthcare workers could lose their jobs. The state will lose nearly $15 billion in federal funding, and healthcare costs, denials and paperwork will increase for many of us.
Saying that Medicaid is a life-saving program isn’t hyperbole. A recent study that the National Bureau of Economic Research conducted found that the expansion of Medicaid has saved more than 27,000 lives since 2010. These findings confirm what nurses have been saying at every available opportunity, and they explain why we’ve been fighting these cuts at every turn. Whether on the streets by attending protests, on Capitol Hill by lobbying Congress directly or in the press by using our voices to call on our representatives to do the right thing, nurses have been at the forefront of the fight to save Medicaid, protect our patients and defend our practice.
The fight is not over, and the bill is not a done deal. The Senate still has to vote, and we can still pressure Congress to make changes while the process is not final. Stay tuned for upcoming actions to push our elected officials to do the right thing, and email politicalteam@nysna.org to get involved. Nurses cannot back down from this fight. We must protect Medicaid! Our patients’ lives depend on it.
CVPH Nurses Speak Out for Safe Staffing
On Wednesday, May 21, NYSNA members at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) held a speak-out to demand safe staffing. In April, management unilaterally lowered safe staffing standards in four medical surgical units, putting patient care at risk and violating New York's safe staffing law and NYSNA members’ contract. Fox 44, NBC 5 and WCAX 3 covered the speak-out.
Nurses had a clear message for management: CVPH must listen to the nurses and reverse these changes. It’s unacceptable that CVPH changed staffing ratios without consulting frontline staff — including nurses, who are the experts in safe, quality patient care. Lowering staffing standards won't fix chronic understaffing, but hiring and retaining more nurses and investing in safe patient care will.