“At some point, I’m just going to be another statistic number.”
That’s what Kearasten Jordan worries about now.
The Lancaster resident has spent months trying to get basic healthcare without success. She lost access to her regular doctor and her reproductive healthcare. She can’t find a specialist close to her who’s familiar with her skin condition. And after losing Medicaid coverage, she said she’s left with few options that are close to her home.
“It is very hard to fight every day to not become a statistic,” Jordan said.
Across the nation, patients and providers are feeling the effects of rising costs, coverage gaps, and federal policy changes tied to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law last July. The bill made changes to Medicaid and other safety-net programs and did not extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, resulting in lost medical care for people who simply can’t afford health insurance without them, and mounting insurance premiums for everyone else.
Critics of the bill warned that it would push more people off their health insurance, make care harder to reach, and leave clinics and hospitals with fewer resources to serve patients who are already slipping through the cracks.
That reality has already hit home for Jordan.
A system full of dead ends
Jordan suffers from a chronic, painful skin condition that requires frequent care and daily medical supplies. Her Medicaid coverage helped defray the cost of her medication and allowed her to see a doctor.
“On Medicaid, my antibiotics were $2. Without it? Nearly $400. And that’s just for one round,” Jordan said in an interview last year with The Keystone.
When we checked in with her again this year, we learned that despite working two part-time jobs, Jordan didn’t meet the new, strict work requirements tied to her Medicaid coverage—so she lost it.
“I am not reaching the work requirements set by people who don’t have to live by these rules,” Jordan said.
Jordan said shopping for health insurance on the marketplace isn’t realistic, either.
“It just costs too much,” she said. “Over the past few months, I haven’t really had any healthcare.”
Fewer providers, longer distances
Just like with Jordan, even when patients have coverage, access is shrinking, especially in rural areas.
Back when she had Medicaid, Jordan relied on Planned Parenthood Keystone for her reproductive care in Lancaster. But Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” changed that, too, by blocking Medicaid payments to clinics that offered abortion services. Not blocking abortion services themselves—Medicaid already wasn’t allowed to pay for abortions. Trump’s bill cut off Medicaid funding to any clinics that simply offered abortions in the same clinic as regular medical care. So that meant Planned Parenthood clinics were largely cut off as providers for the low-income people who use Medicaid.
By the end of 2025, roughly 70 Planned Parenthood clinics had closed across the country. Rural patients faced the steepest barriers, as no comparable alternative providers exist in most regions.
For Planned Parenthood Keystone, Trump’s bill affected about 30% of their patients. For months, the organization continued seeing those patients for free.
“But that became unsustainable,” said CEO Melissa Reed.
The clinic had to begin referring Medicaid patients elsewhere, despite knowing many would struggle to find care.
“What happens to these patients is that they have to wait longer for care, or they have to travel further or they just go without care at all,” Reed said.
The financial impact has been significant. Reed said the organization has lost about $1.7 million since July due to the loss of Medicaid reimbursement and Title X funding.
“This is what defunding looks like,” Reed said. “This is really the dismantling of the public safety net.”
Policy decisions, real consequences
Changes to Medicaid eligibility, funding restrictions, and provider limitations were included in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” All 10 of Pennsylvania’s Republican congressmen voted in favor of it, saying the hits to healthcare were necessary for tax relief, border security, and economic growth.
The commonwealth’s Democratic representatives unanimously opposed the bill’s cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, in addition to its tax cuts for the ultra wealthy.
People, not numbers
For Jordan, the impact of policies isn’t theoretical, it’s daily life.
Her days are spent managing a condition without consistent medical care, navigating flare-ups at her jobs, and constantly searching for help that doesn’t come.
At times, Jordan said the experience feels overwhelming.
“I feel like I’m losing my mind,” she said.
Jordan leans on members of her community for support where she can, but realizes that not everyone has the same network.
“There are people who don’t have that available,” Jordan said. “They have to figure this all out on their own.”
Without health insurance and reliable access to care, Jordan said people are left to rely on each other.
“We are apparently the only ones who care about one another—and who care enough to help each other.”
