Since the beginning of the new presidential administration, the big question on the general public’s mind has been whether cuts will be made to both Medicare and Medicaid programs. Louisiana’s healthcare programs are federally funded, meaning that if these prospective cuts were to be made, numerous residents who rely heavily on these benefits could lose their coverage completely.
During the first White House briefing of the new administration, Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt stated that she couldn’t answer on whether funding for Medicaid would be affected by the temporary block enforced by U.S district judge Loren L. AliKhan in January of this year. Judge AliKhan would temporarily block the Trump administration's plans to freeze all federal aid, stating how the block is “a way of preserving the status quo”, causing widespread confusion across the entire country, especially for many Louisiana residents.
Alessia Filetti, a Louisiana resident who qualified for Medicaid in 2016, fears that if these cuts were to be made, then she won’t be able to pay for the treatments for her foot injury, as well as her young daughter’s weekly therapy sessions. Alessia goes on to state that, “If we get dropped, our life is going to become incredibly, incredibly difficult.” Families across Louisiana are anxious about what the future holds, and these potential cuts will impact entire families and communities with no way to pay for their healthcare, which would result negatively for low-income and middle-class Americans across the nation.
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