Dr. Mehmet Oz, a top health official in the Trump Administration, recently said that Medicaid recipients at risk of losing care through the budget being considered right now by the Senate should “prove that you matter” to keep their health care. These comments are immoral, unjust, and outright disgusting, just like the Republican scheme to take Medicaid away from nearly 11 million Americans.
For me, the fight to protect Medicaid is personal. I am the single mother to a son with disabilities who relies on Medicaid to treat his Type 1 diabetes, meaning I know firsthand how essential Medicaid is. Despite working hard and paying taxes, if I had to pay for his care out of pocket it would bankrupt our family. As a single mother, Medicaid and SNAP have been stepping stones that have changed the trajectory of our family’s lives. I won’t let people like Dr. Oz, Senator David McCormick, and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick take them away.
My 16 year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was just six years old. Insulin has always been non-negotiable for us, he needs it to stay alive. Thankfully, Type 1 diabetes is covered under Medicaid as a disability so he is able to get health insurance through the government, which makes things a lot easier for us and keeps us from going into insurmountable debt. Through Medicaid, he’s able to go to regular doctor’s appointments to treat his Type 1 diabetes as well as see a cardiologist and do all kinds of therapies. It’s such a complicated disease that if I had to pay out of pocket, it would totally bankrupt us. Medicaid has helped us keep him alive and healthy.
Our experience with Medicaid has shown me just how essential this program is for helping us, and countless other Pennsylvanians, meet our basic needs. Senator McCormick and Representative Fitzpatrick have a moral responsibility to their constituents to protect Medicaid. We’re not just numbers, we’re the people they were elected to represent and they must fight for us. Republican leaders’ votes on this critical budget are the barrier between their constituents and programs that cutting would send us into a freefall. I have called McCormick and Fitzpatrick multiple times. Fitzpatrick’s office called back and assured me that he would never vote for a bill that would cut Medicaid. Since then he has voted twice for bills that would severely cut Medicaid.
The time to act and protect these essential programs is now. The budget is currently being considered in the Senate and Senators are rushing to cut Medicaid by July 4th. I won’t let this happen. Not for my son, not for my neighbors, not for our country. I urge Senator McCormick and Representative Fitzpatrick to hear my son’s story and consider the stakes of what this bill is proposing. It would mean my son couldn’t access the essential health care that he needs to live. Cuts to Medicaid would harm seniors spending the end of their lives in nursing homes. Cuts to SNAP mean millions of children would go hungry. If all these cuts happen, it’s going to be profoundly devastating for not just us, but for millions of Americans across the country. We can’t let this happen. Senator McCormick and Representative Fitzpatrick stand up for us in Washington and vote no on this budget, and any cuts to SNAP and Medicaid.
