A small crowd rallied in downtown Syracuse Thursday in opposition to the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. They also celebrated the 61st anniversary of those health programs.
Roughly 20 people gathered outside the James Hanley Federal Building, including local legislators, activists, and people enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare.
Agnes McCray, a longtime Syracuse activist enrolled in Medicaid, said the program has been essential to keeping her healthy and out of the hospital.
“I am not an insurance paper, I'm a human being,” said McCray. “I can’t say happy birthday to Medicaid right now because it’s not happy.”
Both Medicare and Medicaid were created on July 30,1965 when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Medicare and Medicaid Act. The federal health programs are the two largest public insurers, and collectively cover two in five Americans.
Medicare insures people 65 years and older, while Medicaid covers people in poverty, children, and three in five nursing home stays, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Both programs provide coverage for people with disabilities.
On July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed into law House Resolution 1 — also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which included the largest cut to Medicaid ever. The bill includes new work requirements, an increase in the number of eligibility determinations for Medicaid enrollees, and will reduce Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years.
Pioneer Homes resident Mable Wilson said she’s struggled for years with paying for the prescription drugs, hearing aids and dentures that she needs; Medicare does not cover dentures or hearing aids. She condemned the administration’s further cuts to Medicaid.
“It's just terrible,” Wilson said, describing the confusion she has faced with navigating both health care programs. “We need your help. I have disabilities. I don't know anything or understand anything about my Medicaid or my Medicare program.”
New York State senator Rachel May said both programs should be expanded to include more people, not reduced.
“We cannot let them keep chipping away at these absolutely critical programs,” said May. “In my job, constituents come in with problems all the time, and probably half the time it has to do with something related to health care or home care. … They are never asking for less funding for Medicaid and Medicare.”
The protestors also mentioned the high cost of prescription drugs. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration plans to end a subsidy program that held down costs on Medicare prescription drug plans.
“These are our family members that are forced to cut tablets in half so that we can fund Trump's stupid war overseas,” said county legislator Maurice Brown, who narrowly defeated 28-year state assemblymember Bill Magnarelli in June’s Democratic primary.
Brown said Albany should mitigate the impacts of the cuts, particularly the reduction in funding for New York’s Essential Plan, which led to 450,000 people in the state losing insurance on July 1.
Most of the changes to Medicaid contained in H.R. 1 will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
