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LANSING - On the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, the Michigan Democratic Party held a press call featuring Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel, state Representative Carrie Rheingans, and health care advocates to condemn Mike Rogers, John James, and Michigan Republicans for supporting Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that would strip healthcare from 700,000 Michiganders, spike premiums for middle-class families, and force rural hospital closures. View footage from the event here.
“Sixty years ago, we made a promise that in the richest nation on earth, we wouldn’t let our neighbors go without essential medical care,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel. “Mike Rogers, John James, and every Michigan Republican who supported these healthcare cuts have broken that promise. They chose billionaire tax breaks over Michigan families’ health. In 2026, Michigan voters will hold them accountable for abandoning our families and our values.”
“Mike Rogers made a career out of abandoning Michigan when it benefits him personally,” said state Representative Carrie Rheingans. “Rogers supported this cruel budget for his political gain, and John James voted to rip healthcare away from 20,000 people in his own district. Michigan deserves leaders who fight for us, not politicians who sell us out.”
“When hospitals lose Medicaid funding, entire communities become healthcare deserts,” said Dr. Rhonda Maney, a retired OBGYN based in Lansing. “Republicans like Mike Rogers and John James are making life-and-death decisions and putting corporate profits over Michiganders’ health.”
BACKGROUND:
Mike Rogers endorsed, John James voted for, and every Michigan Republican in Congress supported Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which cuts $1 trillion in Medicaid funding to pay for $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest 1% of Americans. The devastating impact is already being felt across Michigan, with three rural hospitals — McLaren Central Michigan, UM Health-Sparrow Carson, and Ascension Borgess-Lee Hospital — now at high risk of closure, according to new research from the Sheps Center at UNC-Chapel Hill.
While in Congress, Mike Rogers voted four times for Republican budgets that would “essentially end Medicare” and replace it with a voucher system and supported raising the retirement age for Medicare. During that time, Rogers was a “leading advocate” to boost opioid prescriptions and called himself a “champion” for Big Pharma, all while receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same drug companies that are now paying billions in settlements for their role in causing the opioid epidemic.