For months, millions of Americans made a collective sacrifice to ensure access to healthcare for millions. They went without, stretched their meager resources as far as they could, and rationed their food assistance - all in the hopes that Democrats would use this leverage to win some concessions from Republicans on Medicaid cuts and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
But now, those sacrifices seem utterly wasted. Without forcing Republicans to make any of the major concessions they had demanded, a group of eight Democratic senators cut a deal with Republican leadership to end the government shutdown just as it was about to pass. The result: tens of millions will see their premiums skyrocket, and an estimated 7.8 million low-income Americans are projected to lose their insurance through Medicaid.
"They just wasted it all," says Sarah, a single mother in Maryland who had been rationing her SNAP benefits for months, unsure when the next deposit would hit her account. She was willing to sacrifice anything to ensure millions of Americans could afford healthcare. But now, she feels betrayed.
Others are equally outraged. Delight Worthyn, 67, a SNAP recipient with lupus living in New Haven, Connecticut, says she's "only feel betrayed" that Democrats gave up on their fight for affordable healthcare. Sasha Slansky, a full-time master's student at Queens College who works odd jobs to pay her bills, calls it "insulting" that Democrats used SNAP recipients as a justification for caving to Republicans.
These are not isolated voices - nearly 30 million of the 38.3 million people who received SNAP last year were enrolled in Medicaid, and millions more are expected to be affected by the loss of subsidies. Yet some Democratic lawmakers seem to have forgotten about these sacrifices, and the devastating consequences that will follow.
The Intercept spoke with multiple SNAP recipients who expressed frustration that Democrats squandered their sacrifice on this deal. "Don't talk about me and my food insecurity to justify kicking people like me off of my health care," says Slansky, echoing the sentiments of many others in her community.
In a time when millions are struggling to make ends meet, it's clear that some lawmakers still don't understand what their constituents want or need. The question now is whether Democrats can learn from this mistake and build on their electoral victories to pressure Republicans into making concessions on healthcare reform.
But now, those sacrifices seem utterly wasted. Without forcing Republicans to make any of the major concessions they had demanded, a group of eight Democratic senators cut a deal with Republican leadership to end the government shutdown just as it was about to pass. The result: tens of millions will see their premiums skyrocket, and an estimated 7.8 million low-income Americans are projected to lose their insurance through Medicaid.
"They just wasted it all," says Sarah, a single mother in Maryland who had been rationing her SNAP benefits for months, unsure when the next deposit would hit her account. She was willing to sacrifice anything to ensure millions of Americans could afford healthcare. But now, she feels betrayed.
Others are equally outraged. Delight Worthyn, 67, a SNAP recipient with lupus living in New Haven, Connecticut, says she's "only feel betrayed" that Democrats gave up on their fight for affordable healthcare. Sasha Slansky, a full-time master's student at Queens College who works odd jobs to pay her bills, calls it "insulting" that Democrats used SNAP recipients as a justification for caving to Republicans.
These are not isolated voices - nearly 30 million of the 38.3 million people who received SNAP last year were enrolled in Medicaid, and millions more are expected to be affected by the loss of subsidies. Yet some Democratic lawmakers seem to have forgotten about these sacrifices, and the devastating consequences that will follow.
The Intercept spoke with multiple SNAP recipients who expressed frustration that Democrats squandered their sacrifice on this deal. "Don't talk about me and my food insecurity to justify kicking people like me off of my health care," says Slansky, echoing the sentiments of many others in her community.
In a time when millions are struggling to make ends meet, it's clear that some lawmakers still don't understand what their constituents want or need. The question now is whether Democrats can learn from this mistake and build on their electoral victories to pressure Republicans into making concessions on healthcare reform.
I mean, come on! Those 8 Democratic senators who made the deal with Republicans are basically handing the healthcare system a big fat 
"get out of jail free" card 
... meanwhile, people like Sarah and Sasha who were literally living off SNAP for months to avoid losing their health insurance are still struggling 
. The data says that 7.8 million low-income Americans are projected to lose their Medicaid coverage - that's a whole lotta people, fam! 
Let's get some stats on this:
.
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. Here are some key stats on the proposed deal:
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... Those 8 Democratic senators just sold out the entire country for like, 2 seconds of "winning" in Congress 
... I don't even understand why they felt the need to cave under that much pressure. It's not like Republicans were gonna pass the bill without any changes anyway 
... I'm so disappointed in my own party right now 
That's just not cool, you know? I don't think Democrats understood how much people were willing to sacrifice for healthcare. It's like they thought they could just throw a bone to the Republicans and still keep all the benefits for themselves 
. And what really gets me is that some of those lawmakers who got elected on promises to help low-income Americans are the same ones who are now letting them down 
. It's time for Democrats to own up to this mistake and try again, because I don't think we should have to go through another shutdown just to get some basic healthcare reforms 
. Those millions of Americans who went without food and stretched their resources just to make a point are still gonna get screwed 
, Delight 
, and Sasha 
. It's like they used our struggles as bargaining chips 
and threw us under the bus 
. Democrats need to learn from this mistake and remember why they're in office 
: to help people 
, not just themselves. Fingers crossed they'll do better next time 
.
The Democratic senators are like "oh we couldn't get anything done with Republicans" while people like Sarah and Delight are over here like "wait what about us? 
We were willing to sacrifice everything for healthcare access, but now we're getting kicked off our plans"? It's just... 
. And can we please address the fact that these lawmakers seem to have forgotten about the 30 million+ people who rely on SNAP and Medicaid? 
. The Intercept got some great quotes from SNAP recipients, btw - it's clear that Democrats need to do a better job listening to their constituents 
.
. The GOP got what they wanted, but at the cost of millions losing their health insurance 
. We can't afford to have politicians making deals without considering the real people affected 
.
. we need better leaders who actually care about their constituents' well-being, not just the next election cycle 
. I feel like Democrats kinda messed up on this one 
. Can't Democrats just find a way to make this work without screwing over their own constituents? 
how's that sacrifice supposed to've mattered again? 
. They're supposed to be fighting for the people, not giving up on them to get a deal done 
.
.
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. I mean, don't they get it? We're talking about people who have been living on the edge, folks who can barely make ends meet... 