An empty hospital bed. (Photo: Thomas Barwick/Getty Images)
It’s the Halloween season and this year, there’s no shortage of holiday scares.
The federal government is shut down. Millions of Americans are at risk of losing their health care coverage or facing skyrocketing premium increases, and millions more won’t be receiving the food assistance they need to feed their families come November 1.
Americans are right to be spooked, and the fear is very likely to persist beyond Halloween.
Even when Congress finally ends the government shutdown and addresses the growing crisis in food security and health care, the horrors inflicted on Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP in this summer’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will remain. When coupled with drastic cuts to public health programs through the DOGE program, and more recent cuts in response to the shutdown, the future of our health, security and well-being looks grim.
At the age of 55, I know a few things about life-saving health care. I have survived cancer treatments, strokes, a brain aneurysm and end-stage kidney disease that requires dialysis. I also take several medications that are lifesaving.
Without access to affordable health coverage and prescriptions, I would have been long gone. Even with coverage, I had to fight to ensure payment for needed treatments, but I have been one of the lucky ones who had coverage and the ability to fight to guarantee it.
I’m also a mother whose two daughters have depended on Medicaid during periods where they couldn’t get health care through their employers. In that way, they are like the more than 3 million North Carolinians covered by Medicaid insurance–more than 1 in 4 persons.
The U.S. spends more on health care alone than the entire gross domestic product of every nation in the world other than China. In spite of spending nearly twice as much per person as any other nation, our health outcomes rank low among developed nations. People will disagree about what’s wrong with the system and how to fix it, but there is no denying that we spend a lot more than we get in return.
Those of us who believe that quality, affordable health care should be available to everyone have our own solutions in mind, but policy change is hard in today’s polarized political context and given the complexity of the system. Still, as more and more Americans and businesses contend with escalating health care costs and impossible choices, demand will grow for serious solutions that don’t just put a bandaid on cost, but leverage government power to stop escalating prices.
Make no mistake, it will be up to us regular Americans to force that change. It’s clear in this moment our elected officials in Washington can’t even agree on keeping health care costs in line, getting food to the hungry, and reopening the government that they all work for. Rather than legislating for the good of their constituents, they are stubbornly playing political games to stick it to the other party. This is not what the American people want, or what we voted for—no matter which candidate we chose.
I have stood with others in front of the offices of U.S. Representatives Hudson and Rouzer in Fayetteville, demanding action to protect our health care and SNAP. Despite many requests for meetings, they have ignored constituents—even though they have been in the district for over a month now and while they continue to collect a paycheck to act as our representatives.
I’m an educator and an organizer, not an expert in healthcare policy. But I do know that the voters and communities I work with want affordable health care that meets their needs, lower prescription drug prices, nutrition programs that prevent hunger and malnourishment, and a public health system that defends us against diseases and prevents health crises like Covid.
This may be a lot to ask of a government that can’t even stay open–but it shouldn’t be. If other nations can provide health care at lower cost and with better outcomes, why can’t we move forward in that direction rather than constantly backtracking on hard-won progress?
I’d love to ask Representatives Rouzer and Hudson that question directly, but they won’t meet with me or anyone who is impacted by the shutdown they voted for. I’d also like to remind them that as supporters of “work requirements” in Medicaid and SNAP, they too should get to work and start representing their constituents instead of prioritizing political games.
Carrol Olinger is Fayetteville organizing director for Action NC.
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