Letter to the editor: Rouzer is Robin Hood in reverse

Letter first published in the Brunswick Beacon, 10.02.25

Congressman David Rouzer cast the deciding vote for Trump’s “Boondoggle for Billionaires” that robbed low-income families and gave tax cuts to billionaires by cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Rouzer’s vote was reprehensible. Rouzer represents Robeson County, where 31.6% of residents and 56.1% of children depend on Medicaid and CHIP for health coverage, and Bladen County, where 29.4% of households depend on SNAP. Each percentage is the highest rate of dependency for those programs in NC.

Rouzer’s wrecking ball isn’t done. It demolishes the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits for 1 million North Carolinians on Dec. 31 and increases uncompensated care costs, raising premiums for 4.87 million employer-based insureds. Rouzer’s recklessness means 888,000 North Carolinians will see premiums double. An additional 320,000 will lose insurance entirely because they cannot afford the steep premium hikes.

Credits are higher for older insureds, because health costs increase with age, and for low-income insureds. Rouzer’s Bonanza for Billionaires means that premiums for our most vulnerable low-income and older citizens will rise even higher than North Carolina’s 102% average increase. NC’s Department of Insurance reports that Brunswick County will suffer the highest increases, with enrollees forced to pay over $1,000 more in annual premiums!

There’s one last chance to save NC from Rouzer’s ruinous vote. Federal funding expires on Sept. 30. Democrats offered to meet with Trump to discuss a deal to keep the government funded. Initially, Trump agreed. He then lived up to his “TACO” nickname (“Trump Always Chickens Out”) and chickened out of the Sept. 25 meeting. Trump blamed Democrats’ insistence that he restore the healthcare cuts, which convinced no one because he knew that was Democrats’ position long before he agreed to meet.

Trump will do anything to make himself and his billionaire buddies richer at your expense. Rouzer is ready, willing and eager to help.

Larry Widman

Leland