Opinion: Attacks on Medicaid are a direct attack on Michiganders – and our nation

Trump’s plan to cut Medicaid threatens critical services provided by Planned Parenthood of Michigan

Republican members launched their worst attack on health care yet this week, when the US House passed legislation in the dead of night to support the Trump administration’s plan to slash Medicaid funding and take health care away from millions of Americans.

Their bill now goes to the US Senate and if passed, will cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the program and impose dangerous restrictions on patient eligibility, all under the banner of “fiscal responsibility.” But their actions reveal the ugly truth behind their rhetoric about “efficiency” and lay bare their true intentions: sacrificing the health of our most vulnerable citizens to fund tax breaks for the wealthy.

President Trump calls his proposal a “big beautiful bill,” but there’s nothing beautiful about taking away health care from millions of Americans, including many of the 2.6 million Michiganders who rely on Medicaid. 

In 2019, the Trump administration forced Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI) out of the Title X program, taking millions of dollars away from Michiganders who relied on the program to access family planning services and lifesaving preventive care statewide. So we know firsthand what it looks like when health care becomes unaffordable – and I can tell you there’s nothing beautiful about a mother skipping her cancer screening or a college student unable to get contraception because their insurance coverage was taken away.

Medicaid isn’t just a government program; it’s lifesaving health insurance that provides essential health care for more than 70 million Americans, including children, seniors, disabled people, and working adults who can’t access health insurance through their employer and don’t earn enough to purchase private plans. 

The consequences of the proposed cuts would be devastating because now they’re not only trying to defund Planned Parenthood, but dismantle all of the nation’s safety net health care system. In Michigan, Medicaid covers nearly half of all births statewide – and nearly two-thirds in rural areas of the state. For Michiganders, Medicaid expansion has been a lifeline, not only covering essential sexual and reproductive health care, but also primary and preventive care, prenatal care, and chronic disease management for hundreds of thousands of our neighbors.

As an essential provider serving nearly 60,000 patients annually, PPMI is the only source of health care for many of the people we serve. If Medicaid is gutted, our patients won’t stop needing care, and they won’t magically find care elsewhere—they simply won’t get care. 

Losing Medicaid will force people to delay preventive services until their conditions become emergencies and the supposed savings touted by politicians today will translate into enormous human and economic costs down the road. Preliminary estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show that “defunding” Planned Parenthood alone will increase the deficit by $300 million. We now know how much cruelty costs: $300 million to block people from getting care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

And let’s be clear: there is a profound difference between healthcare reform and deliberately undermining critical national infrastructure. Legitimate reform would strengthen access to care, not restrict it. It would recognize that preventive services save lives – and money – in the long term. It would acknowledge that healthy communities benefit everyone, economically, socially, and morally. 

But the Trump administration isn’t interested in reform, or cost savings, or efficiency. They are singularly focused on dismantling our federal government, privatizing critical national functions, and lining the pockets of their wealthy benefactors.

So for every politician who’s never had to look a patient in the eye and explain why they can no longer get the health care they need, I extend an invitation: come to one of our health centers. Meet our patients, look them in the eye, and tell them why you are really taking away their access to critical, lifesaving health care. Why you are putting ideology above public health. Why you are forcing health care organizations to choose between our mission and our survival. Why you are creating a system where health care is increasingly a privilege of the wealthy rather than a right for all.

As health care providers, we will continue to adapt and find innovative ways to serve our patients. We’re expanding telehealth services, developing assistance programs, and advocating tirelessly for health care access. But we will never be able to fill the enormous gap created by hundreds of billions of dollars in stolen federal funding, no matter how hard we try.

For decades, health care advocates, community organizations, and medical providers have been sounding the alarm while politicians chipped away at our health care safety net, but this fight just escalated dramatically. But if there’s any good news to be found in all this, it’s that cracks are starting to show as key administration allies are expressing doubts, both privately and publicly – so this fight isn’t over yet. 

Michiganders have repeatedly made our values clear – a recent poll showed that 83% of Michiganders don’t want cuts to Medicaid. So please, pick up the phone and let your elected representatives know where you stand because today’s conversation isn’t just about health care – it’s about what kind of nation we want to live in, about our limits for cruelty, and about our willingness to fight back with everything we’ve got. 

Related: Michigan Republicans pass bill to carve out tax breaks for the wealthy atop health care cuts