Six Days Before Christmas, Legacy Executives Threaten To Strip Healthcare From Striking Advanced Practice Providers (Photo) - 12/19/25
MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Aurora Lake, a critical care nurse practitioner and ONA member who is 8 months pregnant, will be available for interviews at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 19 at the strike line outside Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
(Portland, Ore.) — Legacy Health is escalating its intimidation campaign against frontline healthcare workers by threatening to terminate health insurance for striking advanced practice providers (APPs) effective January 1, 2026. This retaliatory move—announced just six days before Christmas—puts caregivers and their families at risk and exposes the extreme measures Legacy executives are willing to take to put profits over patients and workers.
For many APPs, the consequences are immediate and severe. Among those affected are pregnant clinicians who rely on continuous healthcare coverage during one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
Aurora Lake, a critical care nurse practitioner who is 8 months pregnant, had this to say: “Legacy does not have to do this, they are choosing to do this. They are choosing to threaten their caregivers, choosing to threaten our families, and even choosing to threaten pregnant employees like me.”
Stripping healthcare from striking workers is a familiar strike-busting tactic—and a particularly cruel one. Legacy’s threat comes as APPs continue to advocate for conditions that allow them to provide safe, ethical, and sustainable care to the community.
“I am eight months pregnant and preparing to bring a child into the world,” Lake continued. “Legacy knows exactly what they’re doing. They are threatening to take away my healthcare at the very moment I need it most—not because they have to, but because they want to scare us. This decision was made by the highest-paid employees at Legacy and no healthcare system that claims to value patients would ever treat caregivers this way—especially someone who could give birth at any moment.”
Legacy’s stated mission is to provide “good health for our people.” It also frequently touts its commitment to “people-centered care” and celebrates its clinicians in public-facing marketing. Yet behind closed doors, decisions are being made by the highest-paid executives to punish the very workers who make patient care possible.
This intimidation tactic is the result of Legacy’s own choices and will likely damage the relationship between frontline caregivers and management long after the strike ends. It will not have the effect Legacy intends. Frontline providers remain united in their commitment to bargain in good faith and secure a fair contract, and in our demand for respect, fair treatment, and a healthcare system that puts patients and caregivers before profits.
Aurora Lake will be available for interviews at 11:30 a.m. at the Legacy Emanuel strike line.
Update on Mediation
Mediation on Thursday, December 18, did not result in any agreement, as Legacy management continues to play games at the bargaining table rather than engage in meaningful negotiations. Despite repeated efforts by ONA APPs to move talks forward and bargain around the clock, Legacy has failed to demonstrate good faith or a genuine commitment to resolving this dispute—delaying progress while escalating pressure tactics outside the mediation room.
The next mediation session is scheduled for Monday, December 22, when APPs once again hope Legacy will abandon delay tactics and come prepared to negotiate seriously.
In response to Legacy’s continued delays and threats against striking workers, solidarity among caregivers is growing. Approximately 80 APPs from Legacy GoHealth and Legacy Pediatrics will be joining the picket lines for solidarity strikes from Sunday, December 20 through Tuesday, December 22. Their participation underscores the deep concern across Legacy facilities about management’s approach and the shared commitment among caregivers to fight for safe, ethical, and sustainable healthcare.
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