PHOTO: SEIU Healthcare PA member La'Kasha Hines has been a CNA at Chester Valley Nursing home outside Philly for the last 15 years.

SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania member and Certified Nursing Assistant La'Kasha Hines joined a rosters of senior advocates today to brief Senate staff on the importance of Medicaid and Medicare funding to the health of the clients she cares for the rehab unit of her nursing home.

La-Kasha knows firsthand who these proposed budget cuts would hurt because she often sees patients, from young workers to retirees, who rely on Medicaid to pay for rehabilitation care that their insurance (if they even have it) does not cover.

In her remarks, the CNA from West Philadelphia was very direct about the fallout from the House Republican budget plan to privatize Medicare and turn Medicaid into a capped block grant to states:

"What is most alarming about how this plan would dismantle Medicaid and Medicare is that many of my clients and their families are at the breaking point already. If Medicaid is cut, I could see my clients turned out of our nursing home. Or our state might be forced to make additional cuts in nursing home care. That would be devastating for my patients."

Read more about how the severe cuts to Medicaid and Medicare would hurt seniors, working families, children and people with disabilities.

For a district-by-district breakdown of the impact of the Republicans' planned cuts to Medicare & Medicaid, click here.