Michigan woman worries how possible Medicaid cuts could impact her mother

CBS News

12 hours ago

Over 2.5 million people in Michigan are enrolled in traditional Medicaid, according to the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.
Experts say with President Trump's "big beautiful bill," upwards of 700,000 people in the state could stand to lose their Medicaid.
"This would be a gutting of infrastructure like we've never seen before, all to accomplish what to pass a tax cut for the richest people in our state and the country," said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, former director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services for Wayne County.
El-Sayed says the bill, which the U.S. Senate is now voting on, would be historically detrimental to families across the state because of its proposed cuts to Medicaid.
"Eighty percent of our mental health infrastructure in this state relies on Medicaid, and a whole bunch of the services that children get through schools for special needs also rely on Medicaid. Why would you take away healthcare from people who fundamentally need it, and it's already too hard to see a doctor in this country?" said El-Sayed.
While Michiganders follow what the Senate will decide to do with this bill ahead of the self-imposed July 4 deadline, many like Shelby Township's Megan Callahan say it is an anxious time for her and her family.
"With more professional organizations like the American Hospital Association keeps releasing how concerned they are, I am just getting more and more concerned," said Callahan.
Callahan's mother was recently diagnosed with dementia, and while her parents are still waiting to officially become eligible for Medicaid benefits, she says her family will need to rely on specific Medicaid programs that she worries may be cut.
"So let's say the Spousal Impoverishment Protection Program doesn't get affected, but my mother's care could. My mother's community is also in a rural area, so rural areas with this provider tax, like it just keeps snowballing instead of me feeling any assurance that me and my family would feel better."
Callahan says once she started to worry about Medicaid cuts for her mom, she joined multiple groups online where countless others locally have similar concerns.