Virginian Calls Out Sears for Backing Healthcare Cuts and Dismissing Concerns

VIRGINIA - New reporting from WVTF details how Virginians are calling out Winsome Earle-Sears for backing Trump’s tax bill that will take Medicaid away from 322,000 Virginians. Anna Maria Mendez explained “[Sears] was asked about these cuts. She said, ‘Don’t panic.’ Well guess what. We’re already panicking. [...] We panic when we have to choose between caregiving and paying our rent.”
 
WVTF: Doctors, patients and politicians say Medicaid cuts could be a disaster for Virginia

• Anna Maria Mendez lives in the Shenandoah Valley, between Harrisonburg and Luray. She takes care of her 94-year-old mother who has dementia. It’s a demanding job, but she’s been able to cope because Medicaid has paid for some in-home care and support services. Now, she’s worried. Even before new cuts to the program kick-in, her mom’s been removed from the rolls.
• “We get a letter that says she no longer qualifies for Medicaid. I have no idea why.”
• Three-hundred thousand people are expected to get similar notes from the state as a result of what Donald Trump called his big beautiful bill, and those who remain in the program will have to apply again every six months.
• She’s furious with the Republican candidate for governor, Winsome Earle-Sears.
• “She was asked about these cuts. She said, ‘Don’t panic.’ Well guess what. We’re already panicking. We panic when we make a phone call and can’t talk to a human being. We panic when we have to choose between caregiving and paying our rent.”
• Republican State Senator Chris Head says hospitals are also in a panic over what Medicaid cuts will mean for them.
• “There is just a foreboding fear among the hospital administrators that I’ve come in contact with, because there’s so much we don’t know.”