Personal testimonies reveal what’s at stake in Medicaid debates

BY LEAH CRAIG, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

LANSING—Medicaid has long been described as a safety net. But for many Michiganders, it’s much more than that: it’s a means of survival. As the US Senate debates drastic cuts to the program under the GOP’s “big beautiful bill,” Michiganders are stepping up to share what’s at stake.

At a vigil hosted by Protect MI Care, state legislators, community advocates, and citizens gathered on the Michigan Capitol’s east lawn to reaffirm support of Medicaid in the face of the proposed rollbacks.

State Senator Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) asserted that this moment “demands a collective rejection of policies that put ideology over impact and reaffirmation of our commitment to protecting the health and dignity of every Michigan resident.”

“Medicaid is more than just a program,” she told the crowd. “ It is a promise that in times of need, this state will not turn its back on its people.”

Some of these Michiganders shared their stories at Wednesday’s vigil.

For Katie O’Neil, Medicaid provided her son with a childhood.

O’Neil’s son was born 11 weeks premature and entered foster care as a newborn, which qualified him for Medicaid. At two months old, he was hospitalized with RSV, a respiratory virus that can be severe in infants, and diagnosed with subglottic stenosis—a narrowing of his airway. Doctors performed a tracheostomy, and her son required round-the-clock care and specialized medical equipment, all of which was covered by Medicaid.

Years later, surgeons rebuilt his airway. Because his adoption was nearly finalized, O’Neil was able to see for the first time just how much that hospital stay cost: over $100,000 just for a two-week stay. 

Medicaid provided a stability O’Neil hadn’t thought possible. Since that two-week stay, her son, now six years old, has had five procedures, with a sixth planned for summer. And yet, she didn’t have to worry or fight with the insurance company.  Because of Medicaid, she was able to focus on her son.

“Because of Medicaid, my child, who could not speak a word until after he turned three, can talk and tell jokes and yell at his little sister,” O’Neil explained, adding that “most people don’t even know he ever had any medical issues.”

Now, she faces the uncertainty of another surgery this summer, and the looming threat that the federal government might cut the very program that has supported her family every step of the way.

For Sarah Abend, Medicaid was the only support that made her work—and life—sustainable.

She was inspired to share her story by US Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota), who recently claimed that “the best health care is a job.”

“I stand here as evidence that is not true, Senator Thune,” she said at Wednesday’s vigil.

“I am the job, and I don’t come with health care,” Abend said.

Abend is an artist, former teacher, and small business owner. She’s also a Medicaid beneficiary—something she was once embarrassed to tell people. It felt shameful, she explained, “because our society taught me that needing assistance meant personal failure.”

However, Abend soon realized that utilizing Medicaid was not an indicator of personal failure. The failure did not lie with her, she said, but with the system—chiefly the idea that healthcare is a luxury, rather than a fundamental right.

Moreover, Abend explained, our economy depends on creative and service work. And yet, that same system abandons these workers all too frequently.

“The economy depends on teachers, artists, service workers, caregivers, people doing essential work that often doesn’t come with benefits,” Abend said. “If we’re going to have a system that needs low-wage workers to function, then we have a moral obligation to ensure those workers can afford to stay healthy and alive.”

For Nathan Dunbar, Medicaid was a new beginning.

“I had nosedived my life with drugs and criminal activity and being a general menace,” he admitted. Tired of prison and chaos, he sought to start over.

“I didn’t have any way to pay for the services I was going to need to unravel the screwed-upness I’d injected into my life,” Dunbar said. “I relied on Medicaid funds to help me figure out how to get my life going.”

Since 2016, he’s stayed sober, become a father, and works at Community Mental Health, mentoring other addicts in their recovery. Dunbar has become, in his own words, “an exemplary citizen.”

Still, he expressed concern for what the proposed cuts to Medicaid might mean for those struggling with addiction.

“People need help, and if we have no way to deliver that help, then those people will be left to their own devices trying to figure things out,” Dunbar said. “If you don’t know the direction, you have to ask somebody, and if there’s nobody to ask because they cut all the funding, there’ll be nobody offering that direction. And our city, Lansing, our state, Michigan, the place we love, our neighbors that we care about, will all suffer.”

Protect MI Care, in conjunction with the Governor’s office, has compiled “14,905 real stories from real Michiganders on how losing access to Medicaid would be detrimental to themselves and their families.”

Binders full of these stories will be hand-delivered to the seven Michigan representatives who voted for the bill: Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte), Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet), Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland), John James (R-Shelby Township), Lisa McClain (R-Bruce Township), John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia), and Tim Walberg (R-Tipton).

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives 215 to 214, and the U.S. Senate is anticipated to vote by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Protect MI Care will be hosting a Hands Off Medicaid Rally on Saturday in Lansing. Speakers will include U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), Michigan leaders, and healthcare advocates from across the state.

READ MORE: Trump-backed Medicaid cuts to strip health care from 500,000 Michiganders

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.