Put People First PA South Central Healthcare Rights Committee

10/07/2026

Mr. Love, a leader in Southeast PA with the National Union of the Homeless, shares for :

“I need dentures too, but I’m waiting as long as possible because I simply have no choice. Our teeth shouldn’t be treated as a luxury item.”

09/23/2026

Leaders of Put People First! PA gather at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as part of the Nonviolent Medicaid Army’s National Day of Action for Medicaid on Saturday, September 19. People on or excluded from Medicaid from every part of the state - from rural, suburban and urban communities - gathered together across our many differences to share our stories, to share a meal, to sing and pray, and to insist that Healthcare is a Human Right!

With a lifesize “game,” “Hoops and Hurdles: The Medicaid Maze” we acted out how difficult it is to get on and keep medicaid, highlighting the stories of many of those present and of others we’ve met in our basebuilding and projects of survival across the state. Many of us spoke about how Medicaid had saved our lives and how medicaid cuts under both parties are putting our lives in danger and killing people we love.

Since the great Medicaid Purge under President Biden in 2023, Put People First! PA and the Nonviolent Medicaid Army have been taking action across Pennsylvania and the country to help people get and keep Medicaid, to share our stories, and to take action together across all of our differences to protest Medicaid cuts and to fight for our Human Right to Health Care. With this year’s National Day of Action for Medicaid, we commit to making 2027 a year of “Mass Action for Medicaid.”

Put People First! PA participates inthe National Nonviolent Medicaid Army National Day of Action for Medicaid, PPF-PA at State Capitol in Harrisburg, Saturday September, 19, 2026,

09/23/2026

This week’s comes from Loui in Southwest PA.

“Hello, my name is Loui and I want to share my story with a Medicaid Monday. It all started when my son was turned down, without being given a chance. He was having problems in school and didn’t know how to cope with his emotions. He became very hard to deal with, but he was really crying out for help. He wanted to fit in & be normal but the other kids called him weird. Not knowing that being different is good, King became passionate about being like the others. He acted out, using bad behavior everywhere he went. They kicked him out of school without trying to find out what was going on and how they could help with a solution. That made King very upset to the point he was getting kicked out of another school for repeated bad behavior.

I feel that we have to fight and stand up for the right to Medicaid and all our human rights. I am glad that I didn’t give up on my son. I was able to use my Medicaid benefits to help my child get the help he needed. I was able to take him to get evaluated and pointed in the right direction to get a chance for treatment for his illness. King was suffering from emotional distress and ADHD disorder. With my Medicaid benefits, I am able to get him appointments for the treatment he deserves. Through all this madness and chaos, King is behaving better, he’s more focused and confident in everything that he does. I am proud of myself and my child for not giving up and for following God’s plan. To everyone reading this, I pray that my story can help the next person tell their story.

Standing up for the

09/21/2026

👀🗣️🌿 Our 14th Annual Membership Assembly is coming up!

The Membership Assembly is open to:

✴ Members who have fulfilled their membership pledge.
✴ Mobilizers.
✴ People who are new to us and interested in getting involved!

Here's the link to register: https://bit.ly/PPF2026MA

All needs provided for the weekend of the assembly, including childcare. Young people must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who is attending the assembly with them.

09/20/2026

09/17/2026

📣👀😍 Introducing our new website:

www.putpeoplefirstpa.org

We're "soft launching" today which means we'd love you to check out the new site, share what you absolutely love about it, and help us work out any remaining wrinkles, and see if there's anything that isn't working.

As a member-led, staff-free organization and the only statewide organization in PA led by people who are on or excluded from Medicaid, our online presence has been lagging behind how we show up in the world for a while.

We're very happy to rectify that with our new site design.

Let us know what you think in the comments 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

09/17/2026

Watch LIVE Saturday: “Hoops & Hurdles: The Medicaid Maze” On Saturday, September 19th at 1 PM in Harrisburg, join us on the Capitol Steps in Harrisburg for the “Hoops & Hurdles: the Medicaid Maze,” a game dramatizing what we go through in our fight for Medicaid! Join with people from across ...

09/15/2026

“I am in pain due to chemo treatments for my ‘new’ cancer of the Lymph nodes. I am only allowed to take 2 Tylenol a day. This is not enough to treat the pain. They took out 2 tumors and luckily, the 3d one hasn’t grown much, but how am I supposed to get better when they took me off Medicaid and I have to pay copays now since my income’s a few dollars over the limit and they cut my SNAP to $30 per month? This is crazy! I’m turning 70, I have to keep my legs up so they don’t swell, so I can’t work. I can’t even make a fist, that’s how swollen I am, even though I take water pills to keep the swelling down.

“I have a friend who helps take care of me and has colon cancer. He had 6 weeks of radiation and a PET scan then 2 weeks of radiotherapy @ 5 minutes a day, and finished his treatment with no copays. He’s covered. It isn’t fair that we have to worry about money AND cancer.

“WE NEED MEDICAID FOR ALL!”

- Lou in Uniontown, PA