Without Your Health, You Have Nothing
Cutting Medicaid and Medicare hurts everyone.
In the early hours of Wednesday, May 22, House Republicans passed the “big, beautiful bill.” (Their words, not mine.)
It was a slim majority win: 215-214-1 — with all Democrats voting against the bill, as well as two Republicans. A single Republican voted “present” (allowing him to protest the measure without actually blocking it).
This is a huge bill — 1,000+ pages to be exact. A bill that intends to cut billions of dollars from the federal budget. More importantly, it’s a bill that intends to strip away healthcare from millions of Americans by gutting Medicaid and Medicare. (And Planned Parenthood)
For what it’s worth, I’m grateful to my congressman, Rep. George Latimer, for voting against the bill, and for not mincing words on the danger it presents:
I'm not going to get into the finer details of the bill because, as I've said numerous times in this Substack, there are far more qualified legal, political, and healthcare experts capable of breaking down what House Republicans are doing to the nation's healthcare in service of Donald Trump and billionaires.
Lawyer and independent journalist
offers an excellent breakdown here:
American historian
has a superb take as well, including spelling out exactly what Medicaid and Medicare are:“The Social Security Act of 1965 created Medicare, which provided health insurance for Americans over 65, and Medicaid, which helped cover healthcare costs for folks with limited incomes.”
As someone fortunate enough to live almost 50 years without ever needing to go on Medicaid — and who isn’t old enough to qualify for Medicare (yet), it’s incredibly easy to dismiss what the House Republicans just did.
But I won’t dismiss it, and neither should you, because I truly believe in the old saying, “Without your health, you have nothing.” The same goes for the truth.
And right now, this country is sorely lacking in both.
Health, especially women’s health, is an extremely important topic for me, personally and professionally. In recent years, I’ve pivoted from entertainment journalism to health journalism, and one of my steady gigs is writing for the women’s health website Rescripted.com.
I know that it's easy to get swept up in the bright shiny news objects like Donald Trump's unhinged attacks on Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, and every other stupid thing that comes out of his mouth. But I urge you to pay attention to what’s happening in the healthcare space, both behind the scenes and right in front of our very eyes:
A 25-year-old man bombed a fertility clinic in Palm Springs one week ago: The assailant — who died in the attack — subscribed to an anti-natalist ideology, meaning he believed no one should have children. Lovely.
The Food and Drug Administration now recommends that only people 65 and older (and those with specific medical conditions) receive the annual COVID booster.
Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old brain-dead woman in Georgia, is being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, against her family’s wishes for her to pass away in peace. (Please subscribe to Abortion, Every Day for additional reporting on this story.)
Former President Joe Biden announced this week that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer — which has metastasized to his bones.
Two “journalists” published a sensational book this week about Biden’s cognitive decline, instead of investigating the cognitive decline of the current White House occupant.
Terrified yet? I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like this administration is trying to make us so sick and clueless that we won’t have the strength or ability to push back on its draconian laws.
And, yes, Donald Trump is the villain behind Make America Sick Again: The systematic stripping away of women's reproductive rights? That’s Trump’s fault, even though the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade during Biden’s presidency. Remember: Trump appointed THREE conservative judges to the bench during his first term. So if you EVER voted for Donald Trump -- even if it was “just” in the 2016 election — then congratulations, you voted for a woman to be kept "alive" as an incubator. Btw, the likelihood that a healthy baby will come out of this ghoulish human experiment is seriously low. So, nice going, Trump voters. You’re monsters, all of you.
I realize that when you see news stories about the “big, beautiful bill” (more like the big, ugly bill, if you ask me), you’re likely to dismiss it as boring budget stuff. I get it — I was that person too for much of my life. But we all need to pay close attention to this particular bill, because it intends to provide major tax cuts to wealthy billionaires, and saddle us regular folk with the extra expenses.
I can give you plenty of numbers to get the message across:
78 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid as of December 2024
More than 66 million Americans receive benefits from Medicare
Medicaid covers more than 30 million children, including 81% of children in poverty under age six.
Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) cover one-third of all school-age children (5-18 years old), nearly half of the 13 million U.S. children with special health care needs, and over 3 million children of veterans.
Medicaid covers 2.3 million children with disabilities. Nearly half of children with special health care needs, such as a physical or behavioral disability, are enrolled in Medicaid. Nearly 700,000 kids, many with disabilities, rely on Medicaid for long-term services and support.
(Special thanks to
for providing most of the above data.)But data only goes so far — what gets people’s attention is the human side of this issue. That’s why every single one of us must share our stories, and our loved ones’ stories. Donald Trump and his minions will never understand why gutting healthcare hurts ordinary Americans, which is why it’s on us to take the power back. We must keep pushing back on every step they are taking to keep us physically and mentally ill.
When I asked people on social media to share how they would be affected by cuts to Medicaid (facing a potential cut of $698 billion) and Medicare (facing a potential $535 billion in cuts), here are the stories they provided:
“My in-laws are retired and will lose their health insurance. If anything happens to my employer insurance, we won't have a safety net and my kid with hemophilia would be in very very serious trouble; if we lose access to his extremely expensive drugs, he could bleed to death.”
“My husband and I worked all our lives; now we are retired and live primarily on our social security. Medicare is critical for keeping our health care somewhat affordable. Our budget is tight and cuts will make it even more so. We also have a number of family members — all of whom work —who rely on Medicaid for their healthcare and healthcare for their children, and to lose that care would be devastating.”
From Substack:
Anyone with a shred of decency or humanity would read these fact-packed stories and say, "Yeah, cutting people's healthcare doesn't make any sense. Why are we even doing this?" But we don't seem to have any decency or humanity left in this country. Certainly not in our government, or even among certain journalists.
I’m looking at you, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
But I fear that no one will care about these stories. Because they're not as trendy as, say, Donald Trump chewing out Peter Alexander in the Oval Office, or his disturbing insistence that a Qatari jet was a gift to the United States Air Force (and not a quid pro quo).
Maybe they’re not headline-worthy, but the stories affecting ordinary Americans are the stories that matter.
I don't know what else has to happen for people to wake up and realize that the people they elected to represent them DON'T CARE ABOUT THEM.
We need our COVID vaccines!
We need SNAP benefits so people can eat!
We need to stop playing God with an innocent woman’s corpse — and a possibly non-viable fetus.
We need health care so people can live and work!
Or else we’ll all be too sick, scared, and uninformed to be able to save ourselves.
If you regret your vote, say so. If you think your loved ones regret their vote, tell them to speak out. Stop making excuses. Period.
Where we need to gather our strength right now is among one another. I'm not here to try to change the president's mind -- because that's an exercise in futility. The people I'm trying to reach right now are everyday Americans. The ones who voted for Kamala Harris but are now too scared to speak out against the government we have. The ones who voted for Kamala but are still too cowardly to explain to their Trump-voting loved ones that their votes are hurting people. The ones who did vote for Donald Trump (or third-party) and are now regretting their vote. (It's a start, and I'll take it.)
Every single one of us has to do SOMETHING. It doesn’t matter how small. Every little bit counts. Hey, this week, I voted for school board members and our school district's annual budget. (And I called my congressman to ensure he voted against the “big, ugly bill.”) You need to get involved in any way you can.
So, groan, the “big, ugly bill” passed — what's next? Well, now the bill moves to the Senate, so it’s time to call your senators. Whether they’re Democrats or Republicans. Tell your stories. Tell your loved ones' stories. Tell them how the passage of this bill will irrevocably damage your health or your loved ones’ health.
To put things in perspective: Even if the administration wasn't constantly flooding the zone, it’s impossible that each one of us would have the bandwidth to fight back against every issue. We're not supposed to do that anyway, because that's a fast track to burnout.
But if you can choose a single issue, let it be the one that would allow you to not just fight, but live. Without your health, you have nothing. I've had people reach out to me to say that they want to fight more, but they can't, because they're sick with cancer, chronic illness, etc. Our health — which starts with vaccines, reproductive rights, and government-funded healthcare — allows us to live AND to fight another day.
The Jim Acosta Fan Club
I have to dedicate at least a couple of grafs this week to my parasocial relationship with
(LOL!).In all seriousness, I’m knee-deep into Jim’s 2019 book, The Enemy of the People, which recounts his experience as CNN’s chief White House correspondent during the first Trump administration.
One of the most disturbing lessons I’m learning from The Enemy of the People is that Americans have a terrible memory. I’m not even halfway through the book, and trust me when I tell you all of Jim’s stories sound eerily familiar.
It’s not that I don’t remember them, too, but, in my defense, I was a brand-new mother during the first Trump administration. I was battling sleepless nights as the parent of a newborn/infant/toddler from 2017-2021. So, forgive me if I wasn’t as alert and cognizant of the political climate as I am now.
My biggest takeaway from the book so far is that we have learned nothing from the first administration’s penchant for lies and authoritarianism. But we can change that if we keep speaking the truth. I’m so grateful to independent journalists like Jim who speak truth to power every day.
And I got not one, not two, but THREE shoutouts from Jim this past week alone!
Okay, enough fangirling. Please subscribe to Jim Acosta’s Substack!
Lastly, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve hit another Substack milestone this week: 700 subscribers! I cannot begin to express my gratitude to everyone who has subscribed and is reading my work. It’s been such a pleasure connecting with so many of you!
(And don’t forget to connect with me through Substack Notes as well!)
My Substack is entirely free, but a friendly reminder to please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your subscriptions allow me to continue delivering high-quality content!
As always, I thank you for reading,
—Sarene
Growing up, my parents always said “Without your health, you have nothing.” It was a major influence on my decision to devote my career to public health. Thank you for shining a light on the potential impacts of these devastating cuts and policies. Real people will suffer- and many of them will be from communities that support this administration. Infuriating and heartbreaking.