AFSCME lab tech fights to save Medicaid for his patients — and his brother

Ruben Bastell knows what will happen to the patients he serves every day if Congress cuts Medicaid.  

“If there’s further delay in testing and diagnosis,” the senior laboratory technician and member of Local 860 (CSEA/AFSCME 1000) says, people won’t get timely treatment, “and there’ll be a lot more sickness.”  

Bastell recently travelled from New York to Washington. He joined a host of other AFSCME members who have visited the halls of Congress to urge House and Senate members to preserve funding for Medicaid, Medicare and a host of other programs people depend on.  

For Bastell, the fight is personal. His 24-year-old brother, born with kidney disease, has depended on Medicaid for years.  

“He’s able to live a full life because of the care that he receives through Medicaid,” says Bastell.