Opinion: I’m chronically ill, but can hold a job at Sheetz thanks to Medicaid. Cuts would put me at risk.

Beaver resident Carly Morton writes about how she relies on Medicaid to survive and work, and highlights the potentially devastating consequences of Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid.

I was unable to eat for years. I received nutrition that kept me alive through tubes. After two septic infections and years of fighting for the health care I needed, I was able to receive a surgery that made it possible for me to eat again. But that’s not where my story ends. I have 23 medical diagnoses. I can work part-time in a Sheetz, but not a 40-hour week. Half of each week goes to meeting health care needs that aren’t going away. If Republicans in Congress cut Medicaid to give tax breaks to billionaires, I will suffer.

Working people made this the wealthiest country in the world, and there’s enough for everyone if corporations and billionaires don’t steal it. President Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and House Speaker Mike Johnson might want to rip health care away from Pennsylvanians like me so billionaires like Elon Musk can get a tax break. But we elected our representatives in Congress to fight for us, not take marching orders from oligarchs.

Corporate lobbyists, billionaires, and CEOs want to cut the essential services I count on to survive. They want to take money promised to your families and neighborhoods and redistribute it to robber barons and companies (like UnitedHealth) that profit off of our pain. They want to rob all of us to pay Elon Musk. But Pennsylvanians don’t want dollars that should go to our communities to go to billionaires and greedy corporations. We expect our representatives in Congress to protect Medicaid (and the other programs working families and fixed-income households count on) and reject any and all tax cuts that give away the farm to the wealthiest 0.01%.

Medicaid recipients do not live on an island. There are no separate hospitals, outpatient clinics, dialysis centers, or other points of health services delivery for Pennsylvanians on Medicaid. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 3.2 million children, seniors, persons with disabilities, and folks with low incomes have Medicaid in the Keystone State. 

Whether you have health insurance through your employer or because you purchased it on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, the doctors, nurses, and health care professionals you see are the same folks that Pennsylvanians on Medicaid rely on. 

If Congress cuts Medicaid, then they’re cutting funding for the people and places you and your loved ones rely on. Fewer patients mean fewer dollars. And that means potentially laying off those providers and closing those healthcare facilities. It means charging you more out-of-pocket for less health care in return.

When Americans are uninsured, they are often forced to go to emergency rooms to get what should be routine care, or wait until their condition is a true emergency, which means more expensive care for everyone with longer wait times. Either we all get the care we need, or we all pay the price.  

Related: Republican Medicaid cuts would hurt 800,000 Pennsylvanians

Project 2025 spells out what’s coming: “Tightened” eligibility, imposed funding caps on recipients, cuts to Medicaid payments to states, and imposed work requirements for recipients. 

Yet, Medicaid is an investment in long-term savings for the health-care system. Preventive care and early intervention services funded by Medicaid help manage chronic conditions. Regular screenings, check-ups, and management programs for patients with diabetes and heart disease, for example, help avoid complications that require more expensive treatments. 

Proposed Medicaid cuts would mean delayed treatments, worsening health outcomes, and increased hospitalizations. Restrictions on access cause individuals to turn to emergency rooms as a last resort, leading to higher uncompensated care costs for both hospitals and taxpayers. States like Georgia and Arkansas have tried what corporations and billionaires are pushing in Washington, D.C., and have seen costs go up and coverage go down.

92 percent of able-bodied Medicaid enrollees already work either full-time or part-time, are in school, or have caregiving responsibilities. Medicaid covers half of all children. It disproportionately covers people with disabilities, the low-income elderly, and anyone needing long-term care. And it fills in the gaps for millions of people who need mental health and nursing home services that aren’t otherwise covered by health insurance. 

Polls show the public health insurance program is viewed favorably by 8 in 10 Americans. Yet, a small majority of the Republican-controlled House voted for a “budget framework” that defunds Medicaid by $880 billion. Speaker Johnson denies that this means deep cuts. But he’s gaslighting us. These proposed cuts to Medicaid are only the beginning. They represent only 19% of the $4.6 trillion needed to renew the tax cuts passed during the first Trump administration.

I am unable to work more hours. Without Medicaid, I won’t have full health coverage. And my well-being depends on that health coverage. I have no choice but to write these words in hopes that Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick and his peers in both houses of Congress will change their minds and choose me over billionaire Jeff Yass – choose my life over his next yacht.