Photo by Sean Gallup | Getty Images
Despite overwhelming public outcry, Republicans in Congress passed their Big, Ugly Bill, which includes the largest cuts to health care in our nation’s history.
Across the country, hardworking Americans are bracing for impact after elected officials, sent to represent us in Washington, voted to gut $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. As a result, 17 million Americans could have coverage ripped away from them, all to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. The latest estimate shows that, right here in Arizona, an estimated 365,984 could lose coverage.
The consequences of this bill will be felt for years to come, but some of its worst provisions will take effect in a matter of months.
I already know exactly what these cuts will feel like to hardworking Arizonans because I was disenrolled from Medicaid this year, along with my seven-year-old twin daughters.
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Last year, my gross annual pay was $28,000. I was told that my income was too high to continue to qualify for AHCCCS (the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program) and our daughters were no longer eligible for KidsCare (Arizona’s Medicaid program for children). For the last several months, we have had no other option but to live without the health insurance we have depended on since my twins were born.
We are not “lazy people” or “freeloaders.” We are a hardworking Arizona family desperately trying to put food on the table, despite the rising cost of just about everything, and raise our children in the state that we love and have always considered home. But despite being productive members of society doing our best to raise happy, healthy children, we are facing the ultimate barrier to that in our lack of access to health care.
Not having health insurance means that, as their mother, I have no peace of mind. It means that my children cannot receive their recommended annual checkup to facilitate their healthy growth. It means we hope and pray that we do not get sick or injured, because if we do, we cannot see a doctor. It means that every single day I must take my chances, not only on my own health, but on my children. Sadly, I know our situation is not unique.
Starting in 2026, families like mine in Arizona will feel the full force of these severe health care cuts. First, premiums and out-of-pocket costs will skyrocket, and many will lose coverage altogether due to miles of red tape. Then, devastating cuts to Medicaid will begin to take effect, causing five rural hospitals in our state to shut down, seniors to be forced out of their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction to lose life-saving care. Costs will skyrocket across the board, wait times will increase for everyone, and it will be harder for families to get covered and stay covered.
Together, these cuts will explode the uninsured rate to levels not seen in 15 years — all while tax cuts go to the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
The damage will be felt in every corner of the country, including here in Arizona, and Arizona’s Republican members of Congress have turned their backs on us and made their priorities clear: Instead of securing the health of their own constituents, they chose to side with billionaires and big corporations. Every single person in our community will be affected. Hundreds of thousands of people in Arizona could lose coverage, endangering the lives of children, parents, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, and working adults. In addition, our local economy will suffer with potential jobs lost in Arizona due to these cuts.
Now that the bill is law, President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans fully own the consequences. They jammed it through despite the fact that the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of these cuts.
When our premiums spike and out-of-pocket costs soar, we’ll remember their vote. When we have nowhere to go for treatment, we’ll remember their vote. When our coverage is ripped away, we’ll remember their vote. When the nursing home caring for our parents and grandparents closes, we’ll remember their vote. When the obituaries pile up because people can no longer afford the care they need to stay alive, we’ll remember their vote.
They must answer for the fallout. For everyday Americans like us, this bill does nothing but kick us while we’re down. I won’t “get over it” as Mitch McConnell suggests, and I beg you don’t either.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
