LeeAnn Hall, co-director of People’s Action, gave this statement Friday after the defeat in the U.S. Senate of the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and dismantle Medicaid:

“Today is ‘Victory Friday’ for all those threatened for months with the impending loss of access to the health care they need.

“This health care debate showed that all of the arguments that Republicans and the Trump administration put forward for why this repeal effort was necessary did not hold water with the vast majority. Instead, everyday people held politicians accountable to the principle that government has a role in ensuring the every individual has access to health care as a basic right.

“What we also saw is the power of people who would be most harmed by these repeal proposals putting their lives on the line and leading the opposition movement.

“We can build on this victory to move toward the kind of health care that we want. Fifty-two years ago today members of the Senate cast crucial votes for the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. Today, we can build on that landmark legislation and move toward Medicare for all.

“In the meantime, we know that the assaults on our basic health care lifelines will continue. We remain on guard and will stand firm. We will not let the health care of any one of us be used as a political bargaining chip, we will not stand for allowing our health care system to ‘implode,’ and we will not be deterred from our ultimate goal of ensuring everyone has the right to the health care they need.”

LeeAnn Hall is co-director of People’s Action. Hall serves on the executive committee of Health Care for America Now (HCAN). She is a national leader in organizing communities throughout the country on health care issues.

People’s Action is a national network of organizations with a million people across 29 states. Since January, People’s Action’s member organizations have organized well over 600 rallies and protests against Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.