Demonstration held in Springfield celebrates Medicare and Medicaid

Posted on August 4, 2018
A birthday celebration held in Springfield celebrated the 53rd anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid being signed into law. (Dave Dahl)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – A birthday celebration, complete with cake, honored the 53rd anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid being signed into law.

The demonstration Monday evening in Springfield was one of many around the country put on by the grassroots group Indivisible. The group bills itself as non-partisan, but the participants in Springfield were not shy about speaking ill of the Trump administration and Republican members of Congress, including Downstate incumbent Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) and Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap). In fact, the Springfield event was held outside LaHood’s district office.

‘We’ve seen what they did what the Affordable Care Act. They are continuing efforts to diminish the health care rights of Americans,” said Junius Rodriguez, the Democrat running against LaHood. “And we now know that people like (House Speaker) Paul Ryan, Darin LaHood, and others look upon programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and even Social Security as what they call ‘entitlements.'”

Indivisible’s Illinois leader, Scott Cross, said 1.5 million Illinois children are on Medicaid.

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