Portage Families Deserve Better Healthcare
Bill Huizenga cut our healthcare to give billionaires a tax break. It’s time for Portage to fight back.
The Problem
Congressman Bill Huizenga Voted To Increase Our Healthcare Costs
Huizenga voted to slash $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and take away middle-class healthcare tax credits, all to hand billionaires a tax break. Right here in Portage, thousands of our neighbors are now struggling to afford care, pay their premiums, or fill a prescription.
Huizenga’s vote will leave 27,000 people in his district uninsured. Portage families aren’t just worried about healthcare costs; they’re being squeezed out of coverage entirely.
The Solution
The Healthcare Action Plan Gives Portage a Local Voice
When Congress fails us, local communities can act. The Healthcare Action Plan ballot initiative lets Portage voters create a Healthcare Action Committee to hold public hearings, develop real solutions on costs and access, and bring recommendations to City Council.
We can’t wait on Washington and Bill Huizenga anymore. This is Portage taking control.
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Bill Huizenga’s vote is costing Portage families more than $1,000 a year.
Huizenga Works for Billionaires.
We Work for Portage.
While families here are cutting back on prescriptions and skipping doctors’ visits, Huizenga voted to make things worse. In 2026, prescription drug costs rose 10 times the rate of inflation. Health insurance premiums are up more than 20% for families buying their own insurance and more than 11% for small businesses. Huizenga’s cuts are putting local hospitals at risk of closing — and working families are paying the price so he can hand out tax breaks to billionaires.
Working families are stressed, squeezed, and deserve real solutions.
Petition language
Portage Petition
AN AMENDMENT TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF PORTAGE TO REQUIRE THE CREATION OF A HEALTHCARE ACTION PLAN; TO ESTABLISH A CITIZENS’ ADVISORY HEALTHCARE ACTION BOARD (“CITIZENS’ ACTION BOARD”) TO CREATE THE HEALTHCARE ACTION PLAN AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADDRESS HEALTHCARE COSTS AND HEALTHCARE INACCESSIBILITY; TO PRESCRIBE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE CITIZENS’ ACTION BOARD; TO PRESCRIBE THE CITIZENS’ ACTION BOARD’S COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION; AND TO REQUIRE THE PUBLICATION, A PUBLIC OVERVIEW, AND ADOPTION OF THE HEALTHCARE ACTION PLAN.
This proposed charter amendment does not alter or abrogate an existing charter provision. The full text of the proposal to add Chapter 16 to the Portage City Charter is as follows:
CHAPTER 16. CITIZENS’ ADVISORY HEALTHCARE ACTION BOARD
Sec. 16.1. CREATION.
A Citizens’ Advisory Healthcare Action Board (“Citizens’ Action Board”) is hereby created to prepare a Healthcare Action Plan and make recommendations to address prohibitive healthcare costs and healthcare inaccessibility in a biennial action plan.
Sec. 16.2. FINDINGS, PURPOSE, INTENT.
The health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the City are served by regular, transparent, and public evaluation of healthcare affordability, accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and medical service availability. A recurring process for collecting public testimony, reviewing data, and evaluating policy impacts will assist the City and the jurisdiction’s federal and state representatives in identifying barriers to healthcare access and in recommending effective responses. It is thus the purpose and intent of this Chapter to establish the Citizens’ Action Board that will prepare a biennial Healthcare Action Plan and make recommendations to the City Council and provide a public process through which the public will be heard and needs assessed.
Sec. 16.3. HEALTHCARE ACTION PLAN REQUIRED.
A Healthcare Action Plan shall be developed by the Citizens’ Action Board and presented to the City Council by October 1 of every even-numbered year. At a minimum, the Healthcare Action Plan shall set out:
- How healthcare affordability and accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and medical service availability have changed for City residents over the prior two years based on available population and public health data, hospital and other health care provider records, and public testimony;
- What federal, state, and local policy decisions and other factors have contributed to changes in healthcare affordability and accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and service availability;
- How federal and state elected officials who represent the City voted on relevant policies, including budgets and legislation, and the extent to which those actions and inactions were consistent with the prior Healthcare Action Plan; and
- Recommendations for concrete actions that the City and its federal and state representatives can take to improve healthcare affordability and accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and medical service availability.
Sec. 16.4. COMPOSITION OF THE CITIZENS’ ACTION BOARD, QUORUM, VOTING RULES.
The Citizens’ Action Board shall consist of seven (7) members to be appointed by resolution of the City Council for terms to be determined by the City Council. Members shall serve without compensation. The City Council shall select individuals who have the research, analytical, and community engagement skills necessary to execute the powers and duties of the Citizens’ Action Board and produce a Healthcare Action Plan, and shall select members with a broad array of backgrounds such as healthcare workers, uninsured or underinsured community members, public health professionals, patient advocates, and organized labor. Vacancies on the Citizens’ Action Board may be filled by the City Council at any time. A majority of the appointed Citizens’ Action Board members constitutes a quorum, and action may be taken by a majority vote of the members present. Members may be removed by the City Council for cause, or automatically after a specified number of unexcused absences as determined by the City Council.
Sec. 16.5. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE CITIZENS’ ACTION BOARD.
The Citizens’ Action Board shall have the duty to:
- Hold multiple community forums each year for the purpose of hearing firsthand accounts of community members’ ability to afford and access primary, emergency, and necessary specialty medical care, in compliance with open meeting and public records requirements;
- Hold multiple community forums each year for the purpose of hearing views on how federal, state, and local policy changes have impacted healthcare affordability, accessibility, and service availability, in compliance with open meeting and public records requirements;
- Compile data relevant to assessing the current state of healthcare affordability, accessibility, and service availability;
- Assess how federal, state, and local policies and recent policy changes have impacted healthcare affordability, accessibility, and service availability;
- Identify how the City’s federal and state representatives voted on relevant policy decisions;
- Measure the City’s federal and state representatives’ actions or inactions against the prior Healthcare Action Plan; and
- Issue a Healthcare Action Plan that compiles its findings and makes recommendations.
The Citizens’ Action Board shall have the power to work with foundations, consultants, researchers, research institutions, state and local governments, and their departments, agencies, committees, boards and/or commissions to assist in its assessments and the performance of its duties, and may include their comments, research, recommendations, and any proposals for shared solutions in its Healthcare Action Plan.
The Citizens’ Action Board shall annually elect from among its members a Chair and Vice-Chair, and may also elect such other officers as it deems necessary. Officers shall be elected by majority vote of the board at the first regular meeting of the year. Any vacancy in an officer position shall be filled by majority vote at the next regular meeting or special meeting called for that purpose. The Chair shall preside at meetings; the Vice-Chair shall perform the Chair’s duties when the Chair is absent or unable to act.
Sec. 16.6. PUBLICATION AND ACTION PLAN MEETING.
No later than October 1 of every even-numbered year, the City Council shall publish the Citizens’ Action Board’s Healthcare Action Plan, recommendations, and all relevant research and findings in a manner that achieves broad public engagement. Minority members may append dissenting views to the published plan. No later than October 15 of every even-numbered year, the City Council shall hold a special meeting with the Citizens’ Action Board to provide a public overview of the Healthcare Action Plan and to adopt a Healthcare Action Plan.
Sec. 16.7. ADMINISTRATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.
The City Council shall facilitate the implementation of this Chapter. The Citizens’ Action Board may adopt rules of procedure for the conduct of its meetings, the receipt of public comment, the preparation of reports, and the completion of the Healthcare Action Plan, consistent with the Charter and applicable laws.
Sec. 16.8. ETHICS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
The City Council may adopt a Conflict of Interest and/or Ethics Policy to govern the conduct of the members of the Citizens’ Action Board.
Sec. 16.9. SEVERABILITY.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Charter amendment is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Charter amendment.
