Struggling caregiver to Crane, senators: Defend Medicaid or lose my vote

Jessie Engelhardt

Submitted photo

Our situation has only gotten worse since my husband was recently cut from Medicaid. He has not been able to schedule a leg surgery or get all of the health care that he needs. I’m scared about potential cuts to Medicaid because my family has already been in that position and felt the squeeze. ”

I worked in a hospital for 14 years before stepping back to take care of my husband and children. My life has revolved around health care; I’ve been on every side of it. As a caregiver, I don’t know how I could manage if the proposed federal cuts to Medicaid go into effect. 

My husband and I have been married for 28 years. I am caring for him as his Alzheimer’s progresses. While we both receive Social Security benefits, it is not enough to keep up with rising costs. Every month is a struggle to figure out what we have to spend and what we can afford to live without.

Our situation has only gotten worse since my husband was recently cut from Medicaid. He has not been able to schedule a leg surgery or get all of the health care that he needs. I’m scared about potential cuts to Medicaid because my family has already been in that position and felt the squeeze. 

 Millions of American families rely on Medicaid for access to healthcare, treatment and prescriptions. In Arizona, about 2 million people use Medicaid to cover health care and medical expenses. It breaks my heart to know how many mothers are in the same situation I am in, worrying every day about how we’ll be able to take care of our children.

By threatening cuts to Medicaid, Republican lawmakers are putting our children’s lives and wellbeing on the line. But that’s not all. They put at risk the national creed that we all share as Americans. That we’re one nation, one country, and each of us have an unalienable right to life and liberty. Rights that our government and representatives are sworn to protect.  

As a health care provider, I spent my life in service of people — the American People — when they most needed my support. Now I call on our elected leaders to support that same group of people when we most need their support. It’s why we sent them to Washington.
So many of us across Arizona are holding on by a thread. Cuts to Medicaid will snap that thread and let us fall.

My Congressional representative, Rep. Eli Crane, voted in favor of cuts to Medicaid and other vital programs that will be absolutely detrimental to the health of my children. In his district alone, 41,000 Arizonans would be left at risk of losing Medicaid coverage. We don’t have much, and yet Rep. Crane and other politicians are trying to take more and more from us to give to their billionaire buddies. I am praying for our senators to listen to struggling Americans when we say to stop cuts to Medicaid. 

My message for Rep. Crane and my senators is simple: If you want to support me, my family and Arizonans just like me across the state, you cannot support cuts to Medicaid. We sent you to Washington to fight for our interests and help us take care of my families. Instead, Rep. Crane and other lawmakers are turning their back on us. They are asking us to make more and more sacrifices while they give more money and power to billionaires.

I don’t know how many more sacrifices I can make. The future for my family has never been more uncertain, but one thing is crystal clear: I will not give anyone in power my vote in the future if they vote to support cuts to Medicaid.  

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