Defunding Medicare, Medicaid

Dear Editor,

As we move closer to passing an upcoming Republican-led budget bill in Congress where talks of cutting Medicaid have been floated, I wanted to share a personal story, one that could affect any family as it affected ours.

My husband and I had difficulty having a child of our own. We had several miscarriages before my last pregnancy was viable and high-risk. We did everything we could do, listened to our doctors, went for scans and genetic testing, made sure I ate right and organic, the list goes on, but we had some complications. My son was born with a rare cranial birth defect and, for some reason that the neonatal unit could not determine, he was dependent on oxygen as a newborn. We were in the NICU for 18 days and had private and by all means good insurance. Despite having a private insurance plan, we were left with a very large NICU bill, upwards of $250,000 that a portion would be covered, but certainly not all and a large part of what was left over would have bankrupted us. We were living in a single-bedroom apartment. My husband was working, but I was in school, and we had no way of paying this bill without severe hardship. The hospital encouraged us to apply for emergency Medicaid and by applying and receiving this we were able to bring our bills to a manageable level of around $5000. 

My son needed surgery when he was two months old to remove part of his skull. Our good, private insurance paid for his surgery, but the postoperative helmet needed to protect his head and help guide his bones to grow into a curved shape as his forehead grew was denied by our insurance. The helmet, because it is specialized, was about $10,000. Our emergency Medicaid helped us cover this important medical device. Without Medicaid, he would have incomplete treatment and poorer outcomes. It’s because of this supplemental insurance that we did not go bankrupt and our son has a better chance at a healthy life. 

This could happen to anyone. It’s not anyone’s fault for not being prepared and needing to access this important safety net. It is because of having safety nets like these that babies, children and the elderly do not get forgotten and abandoned when they need healthcare the most. Please, write to your members of Congress and plead with them to stop these irresponsible cuts. They will hurt all of us.