- Josh Fields, a Vietnam War veteran, was exposed to Agent Orange and later battled leukemia and Parkinson's.
- Susan Anderson, his widow, needed Medicaid to cover nursing home costs after being $2,000 short on income.
- Medicaid, a program that helps people like Anderson, faces potential cuts, with a proposed $900 billion reduction in the U.S. House Republican budget.
- Dr. Farhan Bhatti, who operates a clinic where 30% of patients rely on Medicaid, warns that cuts would reduce access to care and could close rural hospitals.
- Anderson hopes her story raises awareness about the importance of Medicaid for people in need of care.
Josh Fields was a father and a veteran.
"He'd make everybody laugh. I was married to him for 16 years," Susan Anderson said.
Susan Anderson told me that when her late husband served in Vietnam, he was exposed to Agent Orange.
"But Josh had not been sick a day in his life," Anderson said.
But then, he did get sick, battling leukemia and Parkinson's—and he needed extra care.
"What do we do? The social worker at the hospital said, 'Let's find a nursing home for him," Anderson said.
Back in 2015, nursing homes cost $8,500 a month. But between income and other support, she only had $6,500—$2,000 short. So, Anderson filed for public health insurance: Medicaid.
"For people who have rowed their own boat their whole lives, it's a little demeaning to do this, but thank God it's there because what, then, if not?" Anderson said.
Fields died in 2018. His widow is among the 1 in 4 Michiganders on Medicaid, a program facing potential cuts.
The Republican budget plan in the U.S. House calls for cuts of almost $900 billion over the next decade, with the vast majority of that from Medicaid.
"We wanted everyone to know that cutting Medicaid would have a huge detrimental effect on the well-being of our patients, but also on our economy," Dr. Farhan Bhatti said.
Dr. Farhan Bhatti owns CareFree Medical in Lansing, where 30 percent of his patients are on Medicaid. He says big changes to Medicaid could mean less access to care.
"That would lead to a huge decrease in revenue for clinics like ours, as well as for hospitals, especially in rural areas. A lot of clinics and hospitals would have to close if that many people all of a sudden switched from having Medicaid to having nothing." Dr. Bhatti said.
Anderson hopes neighbors continue to get the care they need, like she was able to get for her husband.
"And I just want people to know my story because I don't want it to happen to anybody else," Anderson said.
I reached out to Republican Congressman Tom Barrett, who represents the area including the CareFree Clinic, and I did not receive a response.
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