Home healthcare workers with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa and clients gather at the Minnesota State Capitol.
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Kyle Murphy is a 32-year-old disabled man living in Aurora, Ill., where he rents a room with his father. He enjoys having friends over, following Chicago sports, and watching movies. However, as the Trump administration pushes for extreme cuts to government spending, including Medicaid, which funds numerous home healthcare programs across the country, Murphy worries that his access to home healthcare, and his quality of life, are on the line.
Murphy has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a neuromuscular disease that progressively weakens his muscles over time. He uses a wheelchair full-time and relies on the care of home healthcare workers, or personal assistants, to support him with daily living—including getting in and out of bed, bathing and dressing, eating, administering medications, and more. Murphy has relied on home healthcare for the past ten years and hopes to continue. This care is in part funded by Medicaid, a government program that provides health insurance for individuals in need.
Republicans in Congress are looking to cut massive funds from the federal budgets to pay for President Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy, and these cuts are widely expected to come out of Medicaid funding. The GOP’s budget legislation in the House, adopted in late February, says the House Energy and Commerce Committee must find $880 billion in cuts over the next 10 years. Elon Musk, the unelected head of the Department of Government Efficiency, claims that “entitlement programs,” like Medicaid and Medicare, could be cut up to $600-700 billion, alleging fraud and improper payments. In 2023, Medicaid spending totaled around $890 billion from the federal government, and any reductions would be a huge blow to those who benefit, given that federal dollars account for nearly 70% of the programs’ funding, with the rest funded by states.
Republicans appear to be trying to drive through cuts even though Medicaid is popular among members of the public. A recent KFF Health Tracking Poll found that fewer than one in five adults wants Medicaid funding to be reduced.
Murphy and other disabled, Medicaid recipients worry that these cuts will take the form of disqualifying them from receiving coverage or cutting down the amount of home healthcare hours they are allotted in order to live, forcing them into nursing care facilities or impacting their ability to live independently in their own homes.
While home healthcare programs differ from state to state, both Minnesota and Illinois home healthcare programs are funded federally and by the states.
“Home healthcare is crucial to my autonomy and ability to independently live a dignified life,” Murphy shares in an interview with Workday Magazine. Because Murphy’s family cannot provide round-the-clock care themselves or pay for it out of their own pocket, these cuts could force Murphy into a nursing care facility.
Murphy worries that nursing care facilities are also often severely understaffed and underfunded—negatively impacting the quality of care he’s able to receive. He shares his concerns about the potential loss of independence, social connection, and increased spread of illness at nursing facilities that would harm his health.
According to the American Hospital Association, one in five Americans, or 70 million people, rely on Medicaid for access to medical care and services, including children, the elderly, pregnant, and disabled people. While the Trump administration claims those who receive benefits won’t see a change, disabled people, whose life and well-being depend on Medicaid, like Murphy, aren’t feeling reassured.
Gail Larson, a 60-year-old home healthcare worker in Bloomington, Minn., is also struggling with the looming possibility of cuts to Medicaid. Larson is the full-time homecare provider, funded in-part by Medicaid, of her husband, a veteran, and the legal guardian for her teenage nephew. Larson may also be caring for her elderly mother, who recently suffered from a stroke. Larson also works for two disabled clients outside her home in order to make ends meet.
Like Murphy, Larson emphasized the importance of disabled people’s ability to continue living in their homes. “Everyone has a right to be able to live how they would like to live and not in fear of programs and services being cut. Because people depend on these services to be able to live a healthy life in their own home.”
The emotional toll is weighing on Larson. “We want a better life and I can’t mentally think about all of that because I’m so busy taking care of five people and then me,” she says.
She also considers the possibility of needing to find work if home healthcare workers are no longer guaranteed hours. After years of working in home healthcare for her partner and other clients, she wonders, “At my age, who is going to hire me? I’m close to retirement age. I can’t think about that right now.”
Minnesota home-healthcare workers like Larson, are represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, and many believe the system is already lacking for workers and clients alike. Further cuts would put many people like Larson out of work and leave disabled recipients scrambling to fill in the gaps in care.
In a statement from SEIU National Media from February, the union warns, “Make no mistake—radical changes to Medicaid will hurt us all. Cutting Medicaid will shrink funding for other vital services and infrastructure families depend on—from child care to Meals on Wheels—while putting increased pressure on service providers by decreasing resources that are already insufficient.”
“We are being treated like we are expendable,” Murphy says. “I just hope people will take us seriously and understand that no family is invincible to becoming disabled at any moment in time.”
“I urge everyone to take a good hard look at your family members and think about if they were in our community’s position.”