To the editor,

Derrick Van Orden voted for the bill that's crushing his constituents. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill will, over the next nine years, remove A TRILLION dollars away from Medicaid, which serves the poorest among us, to the richest people in our country. Medicaid is health insurance for low-income adults, pregnant women, children, and people with disabilities.

More than 90 percent of adults on Medicaid in this country already work or have a serious disability or illness.

Van Orden also voted to allow the Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire—thus making ACA insurance unaffordable for people who had been using it. When there is no affordable option for desperately injured or sick people, they use the emergency room. Hospitals are required to care for them regardless of their ability to pay. Without Medicaid and ACA insurance payments, hospitals are cutting back on services, and some are closing, such as two in Van Orden's congressional district, after he voted for the bill that led to their demise.

We all pay in one way or another, unless we are stratospherically rich and receive substantial tax breaks that are paid for with money that formerly went to people who needed help. Derrick Van Orden is answerable for this healthcare catastrophe. He voted against his constituents and now on Nov. 3 we need to vote against him.

Maureen Ash

River Falls