16-05-2025
Metro Detroit advocate for sickle cell patients worry about potential Trump cuts
The Brief
Proposed cuts by the Trump Administration to medical assistance could hurt critical sickle cell patient care.
The CEO and medical director of the Sickle Cell Disease Association are working to prevent the cuts.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Metro Detroit doctor who is an advocate for the sickle cell community fears proposed cuts to Medicaid from the White House could potentially be deadly for those dealing with this disease.
Audrieana Tabb thought her baby was healthy until she got a call from the medical staff.
"She had the full sickle cell disease," she said.
Dig deeper
It's a blood disorder that can cause serious complications. Amara became so sick that two months later she was hospitalized. But when doctors learned Amara had sickle cell disease, Tabb said they immediately knew how to treat her, and everything started turning around.
The family has Medicaid, but some fear that proposed cuts by the Trump Administration to medical assistance could hurt critical patient care needed to survive.
What they're saying
The CEO and medical director of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America Michigan Chapter, Dr. Wanda Whitten-Shurney, is working to prevent the cuts.
"The most important impact it's going to have is on sickle cell patient care," she said.
This disease is often so debilitating it prevents the patient and their caregiver from working, forcing them to rely on Medicaid.
"So if they don't have good insurance coverage, then what happens, they go to the ER, and they go to the inpatient setting—that's not good care and that's very expensive care, and what we're going to find is our warriors are going to be sicker and they're going to be literally dying because they can't get preventative care," Whitten-Shurney said.
These patients are called 'Warriors' because they fight every day to survive.
What's next
The proposed cuts could also reduce access to gene therapies and medical research. So the doctor and advocate went to DC.
"On May 7, we went to Hill Day and met with senators and representatives," Whitten-Shurney said. "Just to help them understand the real-life impact this is going to have."
But the sickle cell community in Michigan hopes a state lawmaker can help their mission.
"We're working with a champion, Amos O'Neil, who will introduce a bill that will codify the care that patients with sickle cell disease get who are on Medicaid, and it's so important that they get the appropriate care."
It's a matter of life or death.
