Medicaid cuts could hurt kids like mine

As a former nurse and foster mom raising kids in rural Iowa, I’ve seen firsthand how critical Medicaid is.

That’s why the proposal for nearly $800 billion in Medicaid cuts hits especially hard. The Senate is expected to vote in coming days on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill Act.” If enacted, the bill’s historic cuts, paired with its complicated work reporting requirements, will force 96,000 Iowans to lose health care coverage. It also will drive up our state’s costs by nearly $273 million by 2034, threatening the financial stability of our rural hospitals, 18% of which are already at risk of closure.

I worked at rural hospitals until a back injury ended my nursing career. I lost my health insurance, and it took three years — and two denials — before I was finally approved for disability help. Those years were incredibly difficult. We applied for SNAP but were denied because my husband made “too much” money as a sheriff’s deputy. Meanwhile, we were trying to support a growing family while navigating chronic health issues along with a foster care and adoption journey that has led to our family today: a blended family of three biological children and four adopted children from various backgrounds and foster situations. During the last 15 years we also fostered or had guardianship of a few other children, all of which needed Medicaid to meet their health care needs.

Today our adopted kids rely on Medicaid to cover everything from allergy medications to trauma counseling. One came to us as a newborn with special needs. All children in a foster situation deserve to have their basic health care needs met to help them overcome their past and grow into healthy contributing members of society.

We’ve been told their Medicaid coverage could be on the chopping block. I worry every day about what would happen if our small-town clinic closed.

When a rural hospital or clinic shuts down, it means longer drives in emergencies. It means delayed care. It means families with kids or aging parents are left with fewer options and higher costs. And it means job losses in towns that can’t afford to lose them.

Iowa’s rural health care system already runs on tight margins. If Medicaid is slashed, those margins disappear. Families like mine — already balancing health issues, caregiving, and rising costs — will be left to fend for themselves.

What happens in the Senate is quite literally life or death for too many Iowans. While Sen. Joni Ernst callously pointed out earlier this month that “we’re all going to die,” it is unconscionable to vote for a bill that we know will leave tens of thousands of families like mine without the care they need to survive. I urge both our senators to vote no on this “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Shelly Werger is a former nurse, Iowa foster parent, and mom of seven who lives in Guttenberg.