3 days ago
Local families head to DC to fight Medicaid cuts
CLEVELAND (WJW) — As the battle over the proposed budget bill continues in the nation's capital, local families are preparing to go to Washington to meet directly with lawmakers to advocate for the preservation of Medicaid.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the sweeping budget bill that reportedly cuts $600 billion from Medicaid and would eventually reduce enrollment by millions.
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New Franklin mother Wendy Wilson is planning to go to Washington with her daughter Mia, 14, representing University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.
Since birth, Mia has had a critical heart defect called Ebstein's anomaly. Wendy said she wasn't able to be repaired, meaning her heart is not fixed.
More than once she was at risk of dying.
Although she does enjoy activities including boating, going to concerts and just having fun, Mia is on a daily routine that includes breathing treatments twice a day, feeding tubes and about 40 doses of medication every day.
Her mother left her work when Mia was young so she could care for her.
Her father has a good job with insurance, but Mia's condition keeps them from getting any other insurance.
'I haven't checked recently, but the last time I checked, it was around $5,000 a month for just her medicine,' said Wendy.
That does not include all of the additional costs.
They qualified for assistance through Medicaid through a state program that picks up a large portion of the cost.
Without it, Wendy said they could be at risk of losing their home.
Akron Children's Hospital will be represented in Akron by Stephanie Hill of Twinsburg and her 2-year-old daughter Amaiyah.
At 17 months old, Amaiyah accidentally swallowed some baby oil while she was taking a bath.
Although it did not immediately show signs of significantly impacting the toddler, within a short time, she started to experience breathing problems and was eventually admitted to Akron Children's Hospital where she spent 152 days.
During that time, her condition became so serious that there was consideration of Amaiyah needing a double lung transplant.
'As we were waiting to hear back from her insurance, we got word that they denied it, but that very same day was the day she started getting better and better,' said Stephanie.
In February, Amaiyah was released from the hospital. On Friday — having celebrated her second birthday just this week — she appeared to have suffered no ill effects from that episode.
Without Medicaid, she may not have had access to the health care that helped her recover.
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Chris Gessner, CEO of Akron Children's Hospital, said about 54% of the patients at his hospital are helped by Medicaid, which he believes is about the norm across the state.
'I think its been proven, evidence-based, that kids who have access to high quality health care services do much better long-term and and the Medicaid program is wonderful from a benefit perspective in terms of what it covers,' Gessner said.
'It would be a real problem for us. I mean, with over half of our business with Medicaid, we pay a lot of attention when they start talking about Medicaid cuts,' Gessner told FOX 8 News.
'From my perspective, we understand the need to balance the budget and be responsible with resources, but we really don't want to see that done by cutting into the future of our country — our kids' health,' he added.
As the debate over Medicaid cuts continues in Washington, he hopes federal lawmakers understand how the program has a direct impact on the welfare of young lives.
When discussing the budget bill, President Donald Trump has defended the need to make cuts to Medicaid.
'The only thing we are cutting is waste, fraud and abuse from Medicaid,' Trump said, discussing his 'big beautiful bill' on May 30.
Among the lawmakers who the Hill family knows they will be speaking with directly is Ohio's Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill the term of now Vice President J.D. Vance.
FOX 8 News reached out to Husted's office on Wednesday and was sent a written statement which reads:
'We need to save Medicaid. And saving Medicaid means you have to make it financially sustainable. We want to make sure that children, people with disabilities and the people who are really in need have this program available to them. To do that, able-bodied, healthy Americans without dependents have to give back to their communities in return for the benefits they're getting. America has a $36 trillion national debt, so we have to be smart about finding savings in order to protect these programs.'
Participating in a Democratic news conference about Medicaid on May 20, U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown of Cleveland said she will do everything within her power to preserve the program.
'In my state of Ohio, the state government has already said that if these cuts are enacted under state law, they would end the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion in our state, so what does that mean? It means 770,000 people will lose their health care. That's an entire congressional district in just one state. This is suffering on a massive scale and it's going to hurt people of all backgrounds,' said Brown.
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Next week's trip to Washington, D.C., is sponsored by the Children's Hospital Association, an organization that represents 150 hospitals across the country.
It is an annual trip the organization schedules each year, giving each member hospital the opportunity to nominate one family as their representative.
Among the other things for which they are advocating is access to pediatric hospitals, which Gessner said is particularly concerning in many rural areas of the country.
They will also be advocating for what they describe as the 'growing youth mental health crisis.'
But for Medicaid, the Northeast Ohio families that are going hope they can show firsthand how important the program has been for them.
'We have good insurance and it's still just not enough. With the health care costs and the way the policies run, [Mia] can't get insurance anywhere else,' said Wilson.
'Mia's never gone without something that she needed, but I also realize that's not the case for everybody.
'Thank God we are in a position where we are surrounded by a community that literally has helped us pay for these things when we didn't have coverage — but not everybody is in that position.'
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