Article: The future of Medicaid is “really scary” for people with Long COVID — The Sick Times

[Chandelier]

The future of Medicaid is “really scary” for people with Long COVID - The Sick Times

The deep cuts to Medicaid funding in the Trump administration’s spending bill of almost $1 trillion — as well as new requirements making Medicaid more difficult to obtain and maintain — will hit disadvantaged groups hard. For many with Long COVID, the cuts put their lives and well-being at risk.

thesicktimes.org

2000-word article by

Laura Weiss (she/her) is a writer focusing on social justice issues including health justice, disability, immigration, and labor. She is also an editor at IndyKids. She previously held roles at The New Republicand the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). Follow her on Bluesky at @lauralew105.bsky.social‬ or X at @lauralew105.

Key points you should know:

• Cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in President Trump’s spending bill total almost $1 trillion and will lead to some 10 million people losing their insurance in the next decade.
  
• The bill will require Medicaid recipients to work in order to maintain their insurance, despite such measures being ineffective and discriminatory.
  
• Though there are technically exemptions to the work requirements for people with disabilities, patients and advocates worry they will not be applied correctly.
  
• The bill also increases bureaucratic red tape and confines eligibility, which will result in many losing insurance and access to care. For those with energy-limiting diseases like Long COVID, it will be even harder — and more harmful — to keep up.
  
• Medicaid is the bare minimum for people with Long COVID and other complex conditions. But instead of improving it, amid skyrocketing disability claims, the Trump administration is making it worse.