“I Want a Doctor, and I Want to Be Able to Have This Baby, and It’d Be Okay,” Said Thompson, an Expecting Mother in Arkansas Whose Local Labor and Delivery Unit Was Forced to Shutter. [5 NEWSONLINE]
This Medicaid Awareness Month, the human toll of the GOP health care crisis is mounting. Donald Trump and congressional Republicans chose to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations at any cost necessary — including ransacking $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Now, self-employed Americans like Parveen and Warner from Connecticut are considering draining their hard-earned life savings just to stay covered after their premiums surged from $630 to over $2,500 a month. Rural dialysis patients like Jodie from New York are reeling after her local clinic shuttered, forcing her to make a 30-minute drive three times a week for treatment she needs to survive. Mothers like Jessica from Illinois have been forced to choose between keeping a roof over their heads, putting food on the table, or paying soaring premiums — a cruel reality that forced Jessica to drop coverage despite living with diabetes and depending on insurance for lifesaving medications.
Over one million Americans like Jessica have already dropped coverage entirely since January. And like Jodi’s local clinic, over 800 hospitals, nursing homes, maternity wards, and other critical providers have shuttered, are at risk of shuttering, or cut essential services families rely on. The following 33 accounts, along with Protect Our Care’s over 300 collected testimonies, come from hard-working Americans that the GOP decided to screw over to bankroll their tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Protect Our Care’s new report on how Republicans’ Medicaid cuts are leaving entire communities to scramble for care that no longer exists and putting lives in jeopardy.
Arizona
Robert Hess III
- “‘I was finally happy to have coverage for the chronic conditions that I needed to continue to manage,’ Hess said. ‘As a small business owner, I don’t have any other option. This is the only option for me.’”
- “Thanks to the ACA, he was able to get back surgery to correct the issue, which would have cost about $250,000 otherwise, he said. As a small business owner and working-class Arizonan, the costs could have bankrupted him or forced him to live in pain without surgery.”
- “‘The ACA has saved my life, not once, but multiple times, and that’s why we need the ACA,’ Hess said.” [Copper Courier]
Eric Kurland, Scottsdale
- “In one year, Eric’s insurance jumped from about $6,200 annually to more than $26,600. ‘That’s an $18,000 increase,’ he said. ‘That’s more than 25% of your income… it’s like a second mortgage.’”
- “‘There are people that are literally going to die because they’re going to choose not to have healthcare,’ Eric said. ‘There’s no penalty now if they don’t have it. So what’s their incentive?’”
- “‘If you were to buy a house, they tell you not to spend more than a third of your income on your mortgage,’ he said. ‘Now we’re talking about spending that much just on insurance.’” [Human Impact Series]
Arkansas
Zoe Thompson
- “Expecting mothers are making new plans after one of the River Valley’s major hospitals announced it was shutting down its labor and delivery unit.”
- “‘Having a baby is scary… I feel like having to experience even more with this change and more scariness,’ Thompson said. ‘I’m kind of freaking out, to be honest.’ […] ‘I want a doctor, and I want to be able to have this baby, and it’d be okay,’ Thompson said.” [5 NEWSONLINE]
California
Eric LeVasseur, 63, Seal Beach
- “Eric LeVasseur, a 63-year-old software developer in Seal Beach, California, was part of that group. He said when he saw his mid-tier, silver-level plan was going to nearly triple to $1,200 per month, ‘it was not something my budget could absorb.’” [Fortune]
63-year-old man
- “The end of ACA subsidies caused a huge increase in premiums, the cost of which I could not afford.” [KFF]
54-year-old woman
- “When asked, What changes or actions have you taken or think you may take in order to afford your health care costs this year? She answered, ‘Cut back on food expenses, choose cheaper & fewer dining out experiences, watch heat & AC usage even more.’” [KFF]
Colorado
38-year-old woman
- “‘My grocery budget and fun budget are smaller so we can afford the premium.’” [KFF]
Connecticut
Parveen Vohra and Ken Warner, Manchester
- “When the enhanced federal subsidies expired for ACA plans, their premium costs spiked. ‘In 2025, we were paying $630 per month total to cover the two of us for the medical, and it was like another $100 for the dental,’ Warner explains. ‘Now, we’re over $2,500.’”
- “‘We can’t afford that — who can afford that?’ Warner asks.”
- “They both say they feel trapped in a broken system. ‘It really just has been an infuriating process to watch this all just go backwards,’ he adds. ‘I mean, it feels criminal. It feels like we’re actually being robbed — they’re literally just taking money away from people like us.’” [NPR]
Florida
Kelly Rose
- “Kelly Rose, 59 years old, who lives near Orlando, Fla., became uninsured this year because she couldn’t pay the roughly $1,700 monthly bill to keep the ACA plan she had in 2025. ‘It’s more than my mortgage,’ she said.”
- “Though her job at a bank offers health insurance, she said she missed the enrollment window in the fall because she had planned to keep the ACA plan, not realizing how much it would cost. Rose is now turning to a Canadian pharmacy to get her asthma medication, which costs $800 a month in the U.S.” [Wall Street Journal]
Priscilla Brown, 48, Orlando
- “Lately, Priscilla Brown has had to choose between properly managing her Type 2 diabetes and affording other necessities, like gas in her car. Some days, she takes half or a third of her prescribed insulin dose — just to stretch it out longer. ‘Sometimes I don’t even take my medicine,’ said the 48-year-old truck dispatcher in Orlando, Florida. “It’s so much with insurance, it’s crazy.”
- “Brown said she learned this week that her new refill of medicine was going to cost more than $150 and ‘almost passed out.’ She filled her car with only half the gas she needed, knowing she’d need money for the medications.” [Fortune]
James Mako, Boca Raton
- “James Mako, an engineer in Boca Raton, Florida, and a political independent, said he blames the Republican Party. His $500-per-month premiums were poised to double this year for his silver-level ACA health plan. So, he downgraded to a bronze-level plan with a higher deductible.”
- “Mako said he’s not convinced by the ideas Republicans have floated to fix the problem, like funneling money into health savings accounts. ‘I think they’re just sales gimmicks,’ he said. ‘The subsidies should be back.’” [Fortune]
60-year-old woman
- “I may have to get part-time employment. I may have to get a job after being retired.” [KFF]
Illinois
Jessica Chamberlain
- “The 43-year-old mother of two from Illinois said she was floored to see her monthly premiums were nearly doubling. ‘I can’t afford that as a single mom with two kids,’ she told ABC News. After carefully weighing her options, Chamberlain decide to forego health insurance and is currently uninsured. ‘What do I sacrifice [to pay for health insurance]? I’m diabetic,’ she said. ‘What do I have to sacrifice to keep my medications and my health afloat?’”
- “‘This is destroying people who have pre-existing conditions,’ she said. ‘It is affecting people, especially single moms. We’re just trying to live.’” [ABC News]
Indiana
Katherine Rogers, Irvington
- “After the Trump admin cut funding, two Indianapolis clinics will shutter in April.”
- “In 2018, Katherine Rogers was waiting for her doctor to share the results of her pap smear. ‘I never heard back, so I assumed it was all good,’ the Irvington resident said. Later, Rogers was seen at the Planned Parenthood on Meridian Street, where staff followed up on abnormal results. Like Riddle, she was at risk of developing cervical cancer.”
- “‘Without Planned Parenthood, I would’ve been very sick without knowing why,’ Rogers said. ‘They saved my life when another doctor let me slip through the cracks.’ The clinic removed the precancerous cells and gave Rogers an HPV vaccine. ‘Hopefully now I will never have to go through this again,’ she said.” [Mirror Indy]
Iowa
39-year-old man
- “When asked, What changes or actions have you taken or think you may take in order to afford your health care costs this year?, he answered, ‘Pare back expenses as much as possible.’” [KFF]
Kentucky
24-year-old woman
- “‘Attempt to pay off loans to free up more monthly money, budget groceries more tightly, put hospital debt on a payment plan.’” [KFF]
New York
Cyndi Freeman, Brooklyn
- “‘At this point, budgeting for the future feels uncertain,’ Freeman said. ‘We’re focused on getting through month to month.’ Freeman, who works at a bar, hosts a podcast and coaches private clients, said she logs roughly 60 hours a week across the three jobs — and still dips into savings. ‘We’ve made significant cuts. We bargain-shop for groceries, but with rising food prices, that only helps so much,’ she said. ‘None of these jobs are particularly high-paying.’”
- “Her husband, Brad Lawrence, also a freelancer, said dropping coverage isn’t an option for them. ‘Between Cyndi’s BRCA2 status and my kidney issues, it is a terrifying prospect to be without it,’ he said.” [MS Now]
Jodie Geiger, LeRoy
- “A dialysis clinic in Batavia is set to close in June, forcing patients to find new locations for their life-saving treatments. Patients got a letter this month notifying them of the closure. The closest clinic accepting new patients is about a 30-minute drive away. ‘It’s been a very hard thing to come to,’ said Jodie Geiger.”
- “‘I do think it’s very unfair because this is something we need to survive. This isn’t a cut finger and a band aid, this is our life on the line,’ Geiger said.” [NEWS10]
North Carolina
Jean Busby, Charlotte
- “‘My life was literally saved by access to the Affordable Care Act, which made it possible for me to treat my diabetes without having to ration or skip doses. For two years when I didn’t have insurance, I was rushed to the emergency room four times with dangerously low blood sugar levels. Relying on the emergency room as a primary health care provider is dangerous, expensive for individuals and taxpayers, and far less frequent for those who have health insurance.’” [NC Newsline]
Maryland
Michael Zabetakis, 64, Carroll County
- “Michael Zabetakis’ monthly health insurance premium nearly tripled when the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits expired in January — rising from about $500 to nearly $1,500 as he waits to turn 65 in July and qualify for Medicare. By his birthday, the Glen Burnie native will have shelled out $6,000 for his health care.”
- “The first thing that I thought was, ‘I got to call the company that manages my 401,’” Zabetakis told The Baltimore Sun. ‘Jokingly, I said to them, ‘I need a raise. I need more money to pay for my health insurance.’”
- “‘It’ll only be a $6,000 bite,’ Zabetakis said. ‘But — I don’t know about you — but for me, $6,000 is a lot of money.’” [The Baltimore Sun]
North Carolina
Kai Samuelson, Asheville
- “For Kai Samuelson, a small-business owner in Asheville, North Carolina, who survived cancer 11 years ago, going uninsured isn’t a realistic choice — but the current marketplace leaves him deeply uneasy. ‘I’m going to continue voting for people who believe that health care is a right, not a privilege,’ Samuelson said.” [MS Now]
Ohio
Holly Weir
- “‘I didn’t do anything to pick a new health care plan. I got the bill in the mail and I was like, ‘[Expletive]!’ Weir said. ‘I didn’t pay too much attention until I got the bill the next month and I was like ‘Oh my God, this isn’t from me going to see a medical provider.’ Weir decided to cancel her insurance and has applied for Medicaid coverage. She is currently waiting to see if she will be approved.”
- “Weir said she is a thyroid cancer survivor, and she has to see an oncologist every two months or so, in addition to taking regular medication. ‘Once that runs out, I’ll get a lot more scared,’ she said. ‘Of course, I’m not going to be stupid and leave it so long. If it does come to it, I’ll pay [for the insurance]. The idea that I would have to spend that each month is frustrating. I’m already not doing amazingly financially.’” [ABC News]
Pennsylvania
42-year-old woman
- “‘It’s a disgrace that families are being put in this position to chose between health insurance and all other household needs.’” [KFF]
South Carolina
55-year-old man
- “‘In 2025 I had the elite bronze plan. The monthly premium cost of the plan I had in 2025 went up, the PCP and prescription copays went up, and the deductible went up almost $4000. To keep my out of pocket expenses the same and given my prior history […] I had to drop to the everyday bronze with a much larger deductible and just hope that I continue not to actually need anything unexpected.’” [KFF]
Tennessee
Steve Davis, Rogersville
- “Steve Davis, a 64-year-old retired car salesman in Rogersville, Tennessee, who participated in both polls, said he was looking at an annual premium of about $14,000 to renew his ACA coverage this year. He didn’t qualify for enough of a tax credit to defray the cost, he said, after Congress gridlocked on an extension of more-generous subsidies put in place under President Joe Biden.”
- “He landed a job at a convenience store that came with insurance, with his share costing about $100 more a month than the $300 he paid for an ACA plan last year, before the enhanced tax credits expired.” [KFF Health News]
Texas
56-year-old man
- “One 56-year-old Texas man told pollsters that his family’s income exceeded the cap for subsidies, so they switched down from a gold plan to a bronze. ‘Even doing that, our premiums are three times what they were in 2025, with lower plan features and a higher deductible,’ he said, according to a KFF poll news release.” [KFF Health News]
32-year-old man
- “‘The prices are simply too high. $800/month for the absolute cheapest plan for two people. Our income is $120k, so we don’t qualify for subsidies in Texas. I don’t think we could afford our mortgage if I had to pay for health insurance.’” [KFF]
54-year-old woman
- “‘Limit going to the doctor. I can’t afford the medications prescribed so I try to find over the counter substitutions.’” [KFF]
58-year-old woman
- “‘It has had a major financial impact on my already financially stressed household as I am fully disabled in a wheelchair and unable to work and also unable to receive disability or social security.’” [KFF]
Virginia
Shawn Spencer, 48, Greene County
- “‘Health care costs are out of control,’ said Shawn Spencer, 48, of Greene County, Va. ‘I don’t have insurance, so I’m paying a boatload when I need care.’”
- “Ms. Spencer voted for President Trump and considered herself more of a Republican, she said, but feels as if party leaders have not shown that they care about health care costs. ‘At this point I would vote for the party that can help me afford to stay healthy,’ she added.” [NYT]
Jill Kordick, 63
- “So one constituent, Jill Kordick, went to Washington in January to try to talk to Ms. Miller-Meeks about the rollback of the marketplace tax credits. Ms. Kordick, a 63-year-old retired hospital administrator, said she had never been political, but her premiums for a third-tier marketplace “Bronze” plan had shot up from $900 a year to $9,600.”
- “Ms. Kordick did not get that conversation. ‘My perception is she does not wish to speak with people,’ Ms. Kordick said in an interview in Iowa this month. ‘She will only speak and attend controlled, antiseptic events.’” [NYT]
Julie Lawrence
- “Julie Lawrence, a retired teacher, said she had seen three different primary care doctors in the last five years, and had been pleased with the last one — until the clinic’s closing put that doctor out of business. She is on a waiting list for a doctor at a clinic 40 miles away.”
- “Her mother had been treated for two cancers at the shuttered clinic. ‘I knew she had quality care, that she was taken care of,’ Ms. Lawrence said. ‘What’s it going to be, you know, for my friends and for me?’” [NYT]
West Virginia
Ellen Allen
- “‘Psychologically, you know, that has an impact,’ Allen said. ‘That’s like, gosh, a third of my take-home pay.’ Allen has pared back spending on travel and home renovations, and says she is counting the months until she turns 65 and qualifies for Medicare. ‘I never thought I’d look so forward to turning 65,’ she said.” [MS Now]
Wisconsin
62-year-old man
- “‘The cost of the same plan I had in 2025 tripled in price to $360/month. So I went with a different plan that cost less. But even it was higher than the plan I had in 2025.’” [KFF]
Phyllis Jaworski
- “‘It is kind of an emotional piece, being like, wow, we just really can’t afford what we’ve always thought we could,’ she said. Jaworski said she and her husband have cut back on subscriptions and look for sales at the grocery store. They’ve also weighed if they can afford extracurricular activities for their sons. They might seek scholarships, or ask their oldest son who’s working to contribute. He’s also getting his driver’s license soon, so their car insurance will go up. ‘This should be a time of excitement and stuff, and for us, it’s actually kind of dread, right?’ she said. ‘An additional $1,000 a month for the health insurance, and now I think it’s like an additional $500 a year, or whatever it is, for the driver’s insurance […] It’s hard.’” [Spectrum News 1]