Casting my vote to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was one of my proudest days representing New York in Congress — finally giving options to countless constituents who otherwise would have gone without coverage. Since then, I’ve voted against every attempt by the Republican Party to dismantle it and strip health care from over 2.3 million New Yorkers.
This November, however, the vote is moving from DC to our doorstep, as Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, is running on a resume stacked with calls to repeal the ACA. His record on health care is not a secret — as he’s lost running for every office under the sun — in no small part because at every turn, he’s called for gutting New Yorkers’ healthcare.
When he ran against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010, he called for repealing Obamacare — a move that would have yanked coverage for preexisting conditions like diabetes or heart disease, kicked kids under 26 off their parents’ insurance, and ripped vital birth control coverage away from too many women. He made unfounded claims that “it would take away people’s control over their healthcare and place it in the hands of government.” Four years later, he ran for Congress on the same failed campaign to repeal the ACA.
Fast forward to today, after President Donald Trump cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Blakeman has promised to deepen Medicaid cuts further, promising to “go in with a cost-cutting crew to Medicaid” and “create a team akin to the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.” Republicans allowed the enhanced ACA tax credits to expire, and for New Yorkers who rely on marketplace coverage, that expiration means premium spikes they simply cannot afford and they will go uninsured. Blakeman has said nothing to defend those credits and has every reason, given his record, to let them die.
For low-income New Yorkers, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, this is a warning for the kind of leadership Blakeman would bring as governor. I’ve always fought for the most vulnerable among us under the belief that healthcare is a human right. These federal cuts — all in service to tax breaks for billionaires — have had devastating impacts on New York’s budget and ability to provide care. Yet Blakeman wants even more. The impact of these cuts cannot be overstated with nearly 450,000 New Yorkers set to lose coverage.
Think about what that means in real terms: parents rationing insulin for their children, seniors forced to choose between medication and rent, putting off a doctor's visit until it becomes an emergency room visit. These are the consequences of the agenda Blakeman has spent over a decade campaigning on.
Bruce Blakeman has never hidden what he wants to do. He's told us, repeatedly, across race after race, year after year. On the ACA, on Medicaid, on the tax credits families depend on — his answer has always been the same: cut, repeal, and see what happens. New Yorkers have always rejected that vision, and we must reject it again this November. Governor Kathy Hochul has taken on Trump to shield our state from the worst of these attacks: defending Medicaid, protecting reproductive health care, and pushing back on every attempt to price working families out of coverage. That work is now on the ballot.
When Republicans like Blakeman attack the ACA and Medicaid, my constituents in Bushwick and Ridgewood and Sunnyside lose their coverage. New York cannot afford a governor who runs on cutting health care benefits for our most vulnerable. I’ve spent my career fighting for the most vulnerable New Yorkers. Bruce Blakeman has spent his telling them they're on their own.
Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez represents New York’s 7th Congressional District.
