August 9, 2025
Dear Friends,
I’ve always held the belief that health care is a human right, not a privilege only afforded to the lucky few. Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked to bring affordable, accessible, quality care to all in our region and beyond, whether by expanding behavioral health services for those struggling with mental health and addiction, fixing a longstanding injustice that deprived our region's hospitals and patients of critically needed federal dollars, or driving investments in pioneering research and treatments for rare diseases, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration has undermined that effort at every turn, threatening to bring our nation’s health care system to its knees and leave millions of Americans without the lifesaving care they need.
Community Health Centers (CHCs) play a fundamental role in our nation’s capacity to deliver quality care. These centers — which include our Capital Region’s own Whitney Young Health Center — are vital tools delivering healthcare services to those who need them, often providing primary care and preventative services, integrated behavioral health care, substance use disorder services, dental care, vision care, and other critical services that fill a vital need in the community.
These centers serve as New York’s primary care safety net, providing care to over 2.4 million patients—1 in 8 New Yorkers. 62 percent of New York CHC patients are enrolled in Medicaid, CHIP, or dually enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid — that’s 1 in 5 Medicaid beneficiaries statewide. 47 percent of New York CHCs’ funding comes from Medicaid, making Medicaid their largest single source of revenue.
We must be committed to uplifting these centers and delivering robust support to ensure they can continue to provide lifesaving care. Instead, the cuts and actions by President Trump and Republicans are threatening the survival of these centers. Along with the devastating cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act imposed by their Big Ugly Law, the administration also reversed more than 25 years of precedent by revoking eligibility for immigrants to receive care and services for certain federal programs, including receiving care from CHCs. This reversal not only impacts undocumented immigrants, but also those here legally — including DACA recipients, residents on student visas, and those with temporary protected status. While it is still unclear if these changes are legal or enforceable, these actions already represent a clear threat to our health centers and the health of our communities.
Providing medical care to all patients regardless of immigration status is not just the right thing to do — it is also beneficial to the population as a whole. Illness and outbreaks know no bounds, affecting everyone in our communities. We don’t want people to show up at ERs in crisis when they can access community health centers and receive preventative or early care that stops a medical problem from becoming an expensive crisis for our hospitals.
This week, which also marked National Health Center Week, I visited the Whitney Young Health Center and met with the leaders, staff, and health professionals there who provide quality, comprehensive care to more than 20,000 patients across our Capital Region and beyond. We discussed the impact of these GOP cuts on the center itself and on the thousands of families who depend on it for care. Despite the massive setbacks, these front-line heroes remain as committed as ever to continuing their critical work to aid our communities. And I too am resolved to reverse these heinous cuts and ensure that our community health centers are not further harmed by these politically motivated actions.
As part of that effort, I recently joined my colleagues in introducing legislation that restores funding to Medicaid and ACA programs. On the surface, it seems far-fetched that Republicans would support the legislation — yet many GOP members themselves have said time and again that they oppose Medicaid cuts. One Republican even went so far as introducing their own bill reversing the very cuts they voted to enact. My Democratic colleagues and I will continue to call out their hypocrisy while demanding they do right by their own constituents and ours by restoring our health care system.
No matter what actions this administration takes, I’ll continue the fight to strengthen and protect our health care system — because ensuring that our Capital Region residents get the care they need is nonnegotiable.
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
My office and I are working to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates, announcements, and recommendations from governments and agencies. With that in mind, here is some information that may be of interest to you:
With increased activity and raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in our communities over these past few months, my office has received communications from many seeking information on what they can do to protect their friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
The first thing is to be informed and know your rights.
That's why, next week, I'll be hosting a virtual Know Your Rights informational webinar.
I'll be joined by representatives from Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE) and the Immigration Law Clinic at Albany Law School to provide resources and information to help you and your loved ones when interacting with ICE.
The event will take place on Tuesday, August 12th at 6:00 PM.
The event will be streamed LIVE on my Facebook page, after which a recording will be available on my Facebook and YouTube pages.
Visit my website at tonko.house.gov/know-your-rights or contact my office for more information.
