RACINE, Wis. — A new op-ed from a Racine County woman living with multiple chronic illnesses highlights the importance of protecting Medicaid as the Trump administration finalizes a new rule that could strip coverage away from seriously ill Wisconsinites.
 
Emma Rose Widmar, who has relied on Medicaid for nine years to manage conditions including Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, writes that losing coverage would mean losing the medication, treatment and caregivers that keep her alive.
 
Rep. Bryan Steil has remained silent on the new Medicaid rule, which would force seriously ill Wisconsinites, including those with cancer or HIV, to work or lose coverage. The public comment period on the rule closed at the end of July, and healthcare professionals, patient advocacy organizations, and Medicaid recipients have spoken out urging the administration to modify the proposal. The rule is a response to the passage of the Republican Tax Law last year, which Steil voted for, and the largest Medicaid cut in history that was included in the legislation.
 
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Opinion: Medicaid is my lifeline. New federal rule could take it away

  • I was an elite volleyball player. I was in half a dozen extracurriculars. And then, as a teenager, my body started failing me in ways doctors couldn’t explain for years.
     
  • Eventually I got answers: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Hereditary Angioedema, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, neuropathy, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, and after everything my illnesses put me through, Complex PTSD. I went from a kid who did everything to a disabled adult child who relies on others just to get through the day.
     
  • I am 27. For nine years, Medicaid has been the reason I have been able to survive.
     
  • In 2020, the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Racine County estimated my medications alone cost $2 million a year. Today, even with Medicaid, my out-of-pocket costs still run about $15,000 a year. Without it, my family would be looking at bankruptcy, or worse.
     
  • I know how fragile all of this is. I know that the line between “healthy enough to work” and “too sick to survive without help” isn’t always as clean as it looks on paper, and that people with cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis, and other serious conditions are having to prove, over and over, that they’re sick enough to deserve care. That should never be the bar. No one should have to fight this hard just to stay alive.
     
  • That’s why a new federal rule moving through the Trump administration right now should worry every Wisconsinite who depends on Medicaid or who loves someone who does. Republicans are taking away Medicaid coverage from people who are already sick, and they’re doing it to help pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
     
  • Rep. Bryan Steil voted for the Republican tax law that already cut Medicaid by the largest amount in our nation’s history. Now this administration is writing the fine print on how those cuts get carried out. Patients, healthcare professionals, and advocacy organizations across the country spoke out against this rule change during the public comment period, but Steil remained silent and refused to stand up for his constituents who rely on Medicaid.