The people caring for patients every day are watching Republicans’ health care crisis get worse in real time, and they’re sick of it. Doctors and nurses are seeing patients put off care, go without medications, and arrive in emergency rooms with conditions that could have been prevented or treated much earlier. Hospital leaders are watching more uninsured patients come through their doors as families are choosing between paying for health care, putting food on the table, or keeping a roof over their heads.
Donald Trump and Republicans slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, and now health care workers are saying enough is enough. In Wisconsin, Dr. Kristin Lyerly said it was “the tip of the iceberg” after more than 25,000 Wisconsinites dropped the coverage they relied on. In Louisiana, the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System saw around 2,500 more uninsured patients come through its emergency rooms in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year. Health care workers and advocates are sick of watching patients go without the care they need and sick of seeing preventable problems become emergencies.
Doctors & Nurses
Dr. Isaac Johnson, Resident Physician, Michigan
- “Johnson recalled treating a patient who was enrolled in Medicaid but later lost coverage. Without Medicaid, the patient could not afford medication costing thousands of dollars each month. Because the patient could not afford the medication, Johnson said the patient eventually developed a life-threatening condition, leading to more intensive and costly medical care. ‘When you’re worried about feeding yourself and your family, it’s really hard to think rationally about how your costs today will end up saving you money in the long run,’ Johnson said.” [WZZM]
Dr. Fred Kency, Emergency Room Physician, Mississippi
- ”Fred Kency practiced a better standard of care in the midst of war in Djibouti than he has been able to in Mississippi. Kency is an emergency room physician at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson, where he said the ER is a ‘dumpster fire.’ But the chaos isn’t unique to any one hospital in Mississippi.”
- “He highlighted impending Medicaid cuts set for next year that will leave even more Mississippians without health insurance, bringing the state’s uninsured population to around 500,000. In a state with a total population just shy of 3 million and some of the worst health statistics in the country, Colom said, that number is nerve-wracking.” [Clarion Ledger]
Alisha McArthur Wilkes, Certified Nurse Practitioner, Mississippi
- “A glaring gap in coverage, said Alisha McArthur Wilkes, a certified nurse practitioner who works in Ridgeland, relates to preventative care. Generally healthy people with a minor, easily treatable condition can’t get the medicine or therapy to treat their issue, she said, and it balloons into a potentially life-threatening problem. ‘What started as maybe a small problem, maybe they had diabetes but their sugars wasn’t as high, now they can’t get their insulin, they can’t get their medications,’ she said. ‘So that manageable diabetes has now developed into heart diseases, has developed into strokes, has developed into heart attacks. So, the cost of taking care of that patient has quadrupled.’” [Clarion Ledger]
Dr. Kristin Lyerly, OBGYN, Wisconsin
- “‘What’s happening here is not unique to Wisconsin,’ said Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB-GYN from eastern Wisconsin. ‘It is a preview of what is coming for every state in the US because of the Trump regime’s cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, and this is the tip of the iceberg.’”
- “‘I have literally taken care of moms with high-risk pregnancies who deliver their babies on the side of the road—not because they didn’t want a hospital—but because the closest hospital shut down and the next closest hospital wasn’t close enough.’” [UpNorthNews]
Dr. Kristen Dall-Winther, Family Physician, Wisconsin
- “‘I see first hand what happens when patients struggle to afford care, when rural hospitals are under financial pressure, and when people put off seeing a doctor because they are worried about what it will cost,’ Dall-Winther said. ‘Tom Tiffany has repeatedly voted for policies that make those problems worse.’” [Wisconsin Examiner]
Dr. Michael Warren, Chief Medical and Health Officer, March of Dimes
- “‘Insurance access matters. We know that if you’ve got access to insurance, it is easier to be able to get that prenatal care, to get that postpartum care,’ Warren said. In 2024, a quarter of women didn’t get prenatal care in their first trimester, a crucial time to identify risk, manage chronic conditions and get preventive services.”
- “‘Medicaid cuts have the potential to be devastating here,’ Warren said.” [Fierce Healthcare]
Hospital Leadership
Dr. Erik Mikaitis, CEO, Cook County Health, Illinois
- “”Dr. Erik Mikaitis, CEO of Cook County Health, sees the ripple effects reaching beyond the hospitals and health centers he oversees into communities and even into businesses, when sick people can’t work. ‘If you don’t have insurance, you’re less likely to engage,’ Mikaitis said in an interview with WBEZ before unveiling his proposed 2027 budget. ‘You’re going to come to the ED with a stroke or a heart attack instead of going to the clinic to manage your blood pressure.’” [Chicago Sun Times]
Ryan Cross, Chief Government Relations Officer, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Louisiana
- “‘This is a policy problem that will have very human consequences,’ said Ryan Cross, chief government relations officer for the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System Inc., which owns hospitals and clinics in Louisiana and Mississippi.””
- “‘We’ve seen 2,500 more uninsured patients visit our emergency departments during the first 6 months of 2026 compared to the same time in 2025,’ Cross said, adding that uninsured behavioral health admissions increased 113% during the same time period.” [The Advocate]
Megan Erskine, CEO, Catherine’s Health Center, Michigan
- “She shared a story about a woman with diabetes who was unable to afford insurance because of the elimination of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. ‘She chooses to put food on the table and keep a roof over her kids head at the expense of her health,’ Erskine said. ‘We see patients like this every single day at Catherine’s Health Center. Uninsured individuals do not get preventive care. They delay primary care, and that means that costs increase for all of us because they are forced to use emergency rooms.’” [Michigan Public]
Peter Markell, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Brown University Health, Rhode Island
- “In a call with reporters, Markell said Brown Health has seen more “self-pay” patients following the expiration of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. What’s more, it’s bracing for major Medicaid eligibility cuts under The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and contending with a tidal wave of denials from health insurance companies. ‘At the end of the day, there is no free lunch,’ Markell said. ‘That care is being delivered to people, and we can absorb some of it. But we can’t absorb all of it. And we’re going to need help to make that work.’”
- “He said state leaders have listened, but that the payments aren’t enough to make up for structural problems besetting nonprofit hospital systems. ‘We can’t cut enough to make up for this,’ Markell said.”
- “Markell added that people with commercial insurance are effectively subsidizing those with Medicaid and Medicare coverage due to a chronic shortfall on public payer payments. ‘It is a very, very significant issue,’ he said. ‘We believe the pressure is going to get worse with the impact of the OBBB, and that the impacts will continue to take place in ’27 and ’28.’” [Providence Business First]