Campaign Action
Almost 60 percent of voters say that Medicaid is important to them, in the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That's because Medicaid touches so many lives—it covers the children in many working class families. It covers the long-term and nursing home care for parents and grandparents.
And it gives millions of disabled individuals the opportunity to have full, rich lives and contribute to their communities. Like Evan Novdin.
Nodvin has his own apartment just outside Atlanta, in Sandy Springs, Ga., which he shares with a roommate, and a job at a local community fitness center. He also has Down syndrome.
"I give out towels, and put weights away, and make sure people are safe," the 38-year-old says.
To get to and from work, Nodvin relies on rides from people who are hired to help him. He also has a counselor to help him do daily chores like grocery shopping, cleaning and cooking.
"My favorite thing to cook on Wednesdays — I like to cook turkey patties once a week," he says. "And on Thursdays I make fish, and other days, I make other good stuff like spaghetti."
The assistance he receives to live with such a degree of independence are thanks to Medicaid. Where he lives, in Georgia, about 6 percent of Medicaid spending goes to assisting people with developmental disabilities. The $834 billion in immediate cuts in Trumpcare, as well as the longer term plan to cap its payments and turn it into a state-run block grant essentially doom the kind of help Nodvin is getting. These kinds programs are optional for states, and are likely to be the first on the chopping block when federal funds start to dry up.
That's why Nodvin went to D.C. in March to lobby his representative. "As you can see," he told them, "my life is very full. I work, live and play in the community. My dream is to continue this healthy and useful life."
This bill isn't life and death for Nodvin as it is for millions of others. But it means either a fully lived life or one where he's shoved away into some kind of institution, refused the opportunity to live to his potential. That would be an equal tragedy.