Chippewa Valley Residents Rally Against Healthcare Cuts

A group of Chippewa Valley residents gathered outside Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire on Wednesday, rallying against healthcare cuts.

The group aimed to draw attention to votes by Republican lawmakers on cuts to Medicaid, which could leave an estimated 250,000 Wisconsinites without coverage. Healthcare access has been one of the most challenging issues to address in Western Wisconsin following the closure of the two HSHS hospitals and all the Prevea clinics in the Chippewa Valley.

Abby Lanou, an emergency critical care physician, pointed the blame at inadequate Medicaid reimbursement as a driving factor behind the loss of rural healthcare services.

“When hospitals and physicians aren’t getting reimbursed for services, they’re losing money for care and then they can’t afford to keep these programs open,” she said. “That’s why we’re losing services in the rural areas and a big reason why Sacred Heart and St. Joe’s closed.”

Lanou also added that even if residents do have private health insurance, the increased demand on emergency services from those who do not will still impact them.

“I don’t think people realize that, you know, when the emergency departments are getting, you know, overburdened because people are seeking more care there, that can affect you even if you have health insurance,” she said. “Because if you have an emergency, you’re going to wait longer. If you need to be hospitalized, there’s no beds.”

Republican lawmakers claim the changes made to Medicaid are meant to target waste, fraud and abuse.

In addition to healthcare, the rally also took aim at election integrity after Republican Congressman and candidate for Wisconsin Governor Tom Tiffany commented earlier this week that FBI agents should continue to question election officials in the state over the results of the 2020 election.

Deb Raehl, a retired family physician who now serves as a poll worker in the Chippewa Valley, was one of the residents who spoke at the rally on Wednesday. She shared her experience with Wisconsin’s election process over the last few years.

“After witnessing all the checks, the double checks, the triple checks, of getting it right to make sure that that human being who was standing in front of me was eligible to vote, got registered to vote, voted, and their vote was accurately counted, it was incredible,” she said. “It was incredible. It was exciting and exhausting. So I don’t know how anyone can accuse our Wisconsin voting system of having any fraud. There are so many checks and balances on our accuracy.”