Noah Wyle has become known to TV viewers as a dedicated doctor, first during his stint on the long-running NBC series ER, and now as the lead on the HBO drama The Pitt. The latter, set and partially filmed in Pittsburgh, takes viewers into the high-stress world of emergency medicine while also highlighting the real struggles hospitals across the country face, from understaffing and bureaucratic cost-cutting to attacks by disgruntled patients.

For Wyle, life imitated art in 2012 when he was arrested for participating in a protest on Capitol Hill urging Congress not to make Medicaid cuts that would disproportionately affect people with disabilities and the elderly. As reported, Wyle was there as part of a demonstration led by American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT).

Video of the 2012 incident, reposted in June as part of an NBC News interview, shows a handcuffed Wyle being led into an elevator by Capitol police. Besides Wyle, other protesters, many of whom were in wheelchairs, were also handcuffed and removed.

The video has made the rounds since The Pitt swept the Emmy awards in September, including Wyle winning Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series.

As the NBC News clip points out, Wyle’s healthcare advocacy has not stopped there. He returned to Capitol Hill this year to advocate for “mental health support and better protections” for healthcare workers. He also appeared in interviews with his mother, Marjorie Wyle-Katz, a retired nurse who spoke on the threats to those in her former profession.

“Nurses can’t bill for their time and their skills,” Wyle-Katz told CBS News in June. “Whenever there’s a budget cut, the nurses are the first to go.”

The video serves as a reminder that, over a decade after Wyle’s arrest, Medicaid continues to come under attack. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump in July, has sought to slash the program, which provides services to an estimated 76 million Americans, including 36 million children and teens under 19. Those covered also include seniors 65 and over, those with disabilities, low-income adults and families, and pregnant women. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health noted that the OBBA would cut $1 trillion in healthcare spending through 2034 and see an estimated 15 million Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act recipients without health insurance.

It also highlights the challenges faced by nurses and other frontline medical workers, including those in Pittsburgh. In recent years, nurses and other staff at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, West Penn Hospital, and Magee-Womens Hospital have organized to demand additional resources, higher pay, and better overall working conditions.

As for Wyle, he will continue to put the spotlight on healthcare issues by reprising his role as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch on The Pitt, slated to return for its second season in January 2026.