Healthcare

Right now, I’m terrified, because I hear Republican leaders talk about cutting Medicaid, which is the only reason I can take my grandkids to the doctor.

We’ve long known that there is a childcare crisis in the United States, with rising costs to parents and low pay for childcare workers. Forty percent of those who work in childcare make so little they qualify for some form of public assistance, like food subsidies, according to EdNC.

Because the Senate Republican majority is very slim, it will take only four Republican senators to block the Medicaid cuts. Several conservative Republican senators already have expressed serious concerns with cutting Medicaid, since millions of working-class Trump voters would lose their health coverage.

Since being diagnosed, Medicaid has been my lifeline, providing the infusion treatments that allow me to function daily. Without this support, my quality of life would drastically decline, and I could face premature death. 

House Republicans’ budget proposal could cut over $800 billion from Medicaid, which would have devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, who could lose access to essential healthcare and medications.

The flu vaccine will never prevent all deaths or severe illness, but it helps reduce a significant amount of disease. But experts worry that without the U.S.’s contribution and coordination, the U.S. will fail the public it is sworn to protect.

The research infrastructure that saved my life, and that of countless others, was upended in early February when the Trump administration slashed the amount that research institutions receiving grants from the NIH can claim as overhead, or indirect cost. Now those indirect costs will be capped at 15 percent of the grant total.