“The U.S. Senate is set to vote on its budget reconciliation legislation in the coming weeks, threatening to decrease Medicaid funding even more than the already alarming proposed cuts by the House-passed budget known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” she writes. “The budget cuts would result in millions of Americans losing their health care coverage and thousands of preventable deaths annually, according to a new analysis published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
“As a pediatrician in training, I have come to understand the importance of Medicaid for the children and families I care for. I worry that cuts to needed pediatric care will threaten the future of child health in Vermont … Research shows that having even one uninsured family member is associated with worse health outcomes for caregivers and their children. The new budget proposal also includes limiting exemptions for caregivers to individuals with dependent children 14 years or younger leaving caregivers of older children without funds to care for them.”
Ehrlich concludes with an exhortation for readers to contact their state senators and “give them the ammunition they need to fight for your health care and the health care of your children.”