Proposed Medicaid cuts by Republicans leave patients and doctors fearing the worst

Republican legislation proposes changes to Medicaid including work requirements, co-pays and tougher eligibility requirements. Doctors and patients worry about the effects.
Melannie Bachman, 39, of Charleston, South Carolina, is among the patients closely watching the sweeping Republican bill to overhaul Medicaid that’s been brought to the House. She was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer — an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of the disease — in 2021. She said she had to apply for Medicaid multiple times and wasn’t approved until four months later, which meant she had to pay for multiple screenings while waiting.
Bachman no longer qualifies for Medicaid because she's cancer-free. But she worries that the proposed revisions could make it harder for her or others in similar situations to get covered again, or even cause them to give up on the process altogether.
Bachman is still within five years of her diagnosis, and her doctors tell her that it’s essential for her to continue being monitored in case the cancer returns.
“It’s one of the hardest parts of this journey, besides fighting for your life,” Bachman said of applying for Medicaid. “The application process, the figuring how and when to find coverage, being someone who had no coverage at all.”
As House Republicans on Tuesday haggled over parts of a bill that proposes deep cuts and new restrictions on Medicaid, patients and doctors who rely on the program said they’re bracing for the worst, including overwhelming red tape and administrative hurdles that could prevent many people from getting the care they need.
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