Advocates for kids, seniors, people with disabilities protest Trump's plan to cut Medicaid

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3 days ago

Ashlie Bell-Seibers, a cancer survivor left blind in one eye, gets nervous in front of crowds. Still, she grabbed a microphone on June 3 in front of Nashville's federal building to speak about the children and families in Tennessee she said would be harmed by proposed cuts to Medicaid.
"As a teenager, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and without Medicaid, it's very likely I wouldn't be standing before you today," she told the crowd gathered for a protest led by the American Heart Association and sponsored by 11 non-profit organizations in the Volunteer State.
"My family couldn't afford the cancer treatment I needed."
Bell-Seibers credits care, made possible through Medicaid, with allowing her to heal and flourish. She became a first-generation college graduate and broke her family's cycle of poverty. She now works with hundreds of vulnerable families while serving as the director of Family Voices of Tennessee, a program of the Tennessee Disability Coalition.
"The proposed cuts to Medicaid will hurt families across Tennessee directly or indirectly, especially families of children with disabilities," she said. "Their families matter."
The controversy centers on President Donald Trump's proposed tax bill that aims to cut $625 billion from Medicaid, which could push an estimated 7.6 million Americans off coverage, in part by implementing new work requirements for able-bodied adults without children, according to a USA TODAY report. Those who oppose the requirement say it often ensnares people in an unending maze of bureaucratic red tape.
In a social media post, Trump said the legislation, which he calls his "big, beautiful bill," would be "arguably the most significant piece of Legislation that will ever be signed in the History of our Country! The Bill includes MASSIVE Tax CUTS, No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime, Tax Deductions when you purchase an American Made Vehicle, along with strong Border Security measures, Pay Raises for our ICE and Border Patrol Agents, Funding for the Golden Dome, 'TRUMP Savings Accounts' for newborn babies, and much more!"
Bell-Seibers and others said they spoke to give a voice to parents who were unable to attend, either because they are working or caring for children.
Megan Schwalm stood beside Bell-Seibers to help display photos of children whose conditions necessitate costly medical care and whose families depend on the federal money.
Schwalm − president and CEO of the Tennessee Caregiver Coalition − noted that more than 1 million people in Tennessee care for aging parents, children with disabilities, spouses with serious illnesses and loved ones recovering from injuries or navigating end-of-life care.
She said an estimated 53 million Americans provide such unpaid care, contributing about $600 billion in essential labor.
"It's love, yes," she said. "But it's also labor."
"Caregivers are doing this work while sacrificing their own income, careers, health and sometimes even their homes," Schwalm said. "Caregiving is the invisible infrastructure holding our health care system together, and it's under attack."
Schwalm said the proposed bill would end a national "legacy of bipartisan support" and unfairly target caregivers, who sometimes have to leave jobs or reduce hours to care for loved ones at home.
"That is not policy," Schwalm said. "That is cruelty disguised as reform."
An estimated one out of five Tennessee residents are caregivers and many have relied on Medicaid for home health care, respite, transportation and medical supplies, Schwalm said. She said the assistance helps caregivers keep their loved ones at home instead of in costly institutions.
Nicole Lattatin, grassroots manager at the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, said people need health insurance to screen for, detect, treat and survive cancer.
Nearly 43,000 people in Tennessee will be diagnosed with cancer in 2025 and more than 10,000 current Tennessee patients rely on Medicaid, she said.
Her daughters, ages 9 and 13, attended the event wearing blue T-shirts displaying the message "Medicaid Saves Lives," in white letters on the back, while the front proclaimed, "Where you live shouldn't determine if you live."
Some researchers argue that millions of people eligible for Medicaid could lose coverage because they are unable to meet the bureaucratic requirements to prove they are disabled, working or going to school.
Aaron Hawkins, a lung cancer survivor and patient advocate for the American Lung Association,
"I'm one of the lucky ones," he said. "My diagnosis was early. He had surgery but didn't need chemotherapy or radiation. Access to care was vitally, vitally important."
In late 2019, a surgeon removed about two-thirds of one of his lung − at a cost of $117,000.
"My family would have been financially devastated" without access to quality care, he said.
One in four people with lung cancer under the age of 65 rely on Medicaid for access to life-saving treatment and medication, Hawkins said.
Along with proposed Medicaid cuts, the proposed bill also would implement new work requirements for people ages 55 to 64 who receive assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. An estimated 42 Americans currently benefit from the program, according to a USA TODAY report.
Those who oppose the requirements include Jeannine Carpenter, Chattanooga Area Food Bank's chief communications officer. She also spoke at the protest, saying one in eight Tennesseans − including one in seven children − face hunger.
The food bank is one of five Feeding America food banks that together care for residents in each of Tennessee's 95 counties.
More than 1.1 million Tennesseans are food insecure, and 45% of their households are eligible for the SNAP food aid program, according to the latest Feeding America report, Carpenter said.
For every meal we provide, SNAP provides eight, she said of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
Adults in low-income homes who have SNAP spend an average of $1,400 less on medical expenses, Carpenter said.
"Food is medicine; Food is health care," she said. "Without it, our neighbors will not be healthy."
Schwalm said a caregiver recently told her that SNAP was the only way she could buy groceries while paying for her son's medications.
"When you cut SNAP," Schwalm said, "you're taking away food from families who are already stretched to the breaking point."
Reporter Beth Warren covers health care and can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville protest warns of harm from Trump's proposed cuts to Medicaid, food aid