Jocelyn Benson, Teamsters Members Call Out GOP Healthcare Cuts in State Budget 

This morning, Jocelyn Benson joined five Teamsters presidents and their members from across the state in Lansing to speak out against the House Republican state budget proposal. 

The House’s state budget would threaten healthcare workers and raise prices on Michiganders already struggling with rising medical costs. Benson called out the cuts and lack of budget not as a partisan issue, but as a divide between corporations and every day Michiganders. With nurses on strike in Flint and Detroit, Teamsters Local 243 President Scott Quenneville and Teamsters Local 406 Vice President Tom Sidebotham outlined how the budget would further strain Michigan’s healthcare workforce. 

“Their budget proposal guts healthcare funding, slashes Medicaid, and abandons the very people who keep Michigan’s economy running. We need road funding, but not at the expense of parents who are already struggling to afford a doctor’s visit,” said Jocleyn Benson.

“…I want to be clear about something.  This isn’t actually a fight between Democrats and Republicans — it’s about priorities. It’s about a rigged system that prioritizes profits over patients’ health. A system where insurance companies write the rules while families foot the bill. We need to build a healthcare system – and a political system – that works for everyone. That means making sure everyone can afford to see a doctor when they’re sick. It means supporting our healthcare workers – the nurses, the techs, the people who keep us healthy – with fair wages and safe working conditions. And it means rejecting state budgets that gut healthcare funding and getting legislators to come back together to give us a budget that works for the people,” continued Benson. “I know how to do this. I know how to fix a broken system. I’ve taken on powerful interests before and I have inherited broken systems only to clean them up and make them work for everyone. From how we vote to how we renew our drivers’ licenses, I know how to make sure government saves people time and money, and makes your life easier, and then gets out of the way.”

“We have got nurses who are out on strike right now – two different strikes in two different parts of the state… [House Republicans] want to cut the programs that keep our healthcare system from completely falling apart. My members are already working as hard as they can in understaffed hospitals. Nurses are burning out left and right. Patients can’t get the care they need. And these guys in Lansing think the answer is to cut more? Are you kidding me?” said Teamsters Local 406 Vice PresidentTom Sidebotham. “That’s why we need somebody like Jocelyn Benson in the governor’s office. She’s not afraid to work with Republicans when it makes sense. But she’s also not going to sell us out when it comes to stuff that matters – like making sure our families can see a doctor when they’re sick. This budget fight represents why we need someone like her in office.”

“Teamsters represent thousands of workers across the state who could be crushed by the House budget – workers like the nurses at Corewell and Genesys who are already on strike because they’re tired of working in unsafe conditions. They’re tired of being so understaffed they can’t help everyone who needs it. They’re tired of watching patients suffer because there aren’t enough people to take care of them. And what’s the Republican solution? Cut more funding. Make it worse. Force more nurses to quit,” said Teamsters Local 243 President Scott Quenneville. “When our nurses were out there on the picket line – in the cold, fighting for the right to do their jobs – Jocelyn Benson showed up. Not for some photo op. She came out, she listened to them, she asked real questions about what they were going through. That’s somebody who gives a damn about working people. We need a governor who’s going to fight for us. Someone who understands that when you mess with healthcare, you’re messing with real families. Someone who’s not going to cave every time some corporate lobbyist comes knocking. Jocelyn Benson gets it.”