Protecting Medicaid funding for our communities

To the Editor:

Medicaid is a lifeline for millions of Americans, including children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. It provides essential healthcare services, ensuring that the most vulnerable members of our society receive the care they need. In Wisconsin Medicaid provides funding for all of the following programs: Badger Care, Family Care, Iris, Fostercare, Katy Beckett, CLTS, MAPP, CCS, and institutional care.

As a parent to a child with a disability, a speech and language pathologist, and community member, I see firsthand how Medicaid supports individuals with disabilities, helping them access therapy, medical treatment, and other necessary interventions. Reducing funding would not only harm those who rely on it but also place additional strain on hospitals, schools, and local services.

Services our family has been able to access which help our son have included some of the following: parent education about his special needs and how to manage them, daily living skills instruction where he has learned to make purchases at stores and place orders at restaurants, specialized toothbrush, home modification with equipment to access teletherapy as we did not have reliable access to high speed internet, medication and medical copays.

Representative Tom Tiffany voted to end these basic services which have been invaluable to our family. My story is only one of many who are in this community. I have attempted to call and connect without success with Representative Tiffany.

Investing in Medicaid is an investment in public health, economic stability, and human dignity. I urge policymakers to protect and strengthen Medicaid funding rather than reduce it. Our communities depend on it. 

Angela Koch

Tomahawk