O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s Your turn.

My husband, Jim, and I love living in New Hampshire. It’s natural beauty and welcoming residents make the whole state feel like a vacation wonderland and cozy home at the same time. The explosion of wheelchair accessible recreation allows us to indulge our adventurous spirits in safety.

Our daughter, a UNH graduate, has opened our eyes to the extraordinary talent hiding in tiny theaters all over the state. We go to plays and concerts as often as we can. Of course, it’s not a show without dinner. Our state is teeming with small eateries and talented chefs, and we love supporting them whenever we can.

We own our own home, pay taxes and volunteer. Jim got his undergraduate degree from Southern NH University and his master’s from Springfield College in Manchester. He worked for UNH and the State of NH for over 30 years. In retirement, he contributes by sharing his wealth of experience with young people with disabilities and new parents.

His life is a beautiful, complex tapestry of obstacles and achievements. None of which would be possible without Medicaid providing caregivers to get him out of bed, cleaned, dressed and fed. Intrepid hard workers help him access the community and communicate with people who can’t understand him.

This is what Medicaid looks like. Disabled Granite Staters forging their own paths, contributing to their communities and enriching life for all of us.

It looks like personal and professional achievement for someone who needs help getting out of bed. It looks like hope for parents who are trying to process a child’s diagnosis. It looks like vibrant communities with people of all abilities staying healthy, safe and free. It looks like families saving NH taxpayers hundreds of millions each year by keeping loved ones out of expensive institutions.

Thanks to threats of draconian cuts to Medicaid at both the federal and state levels all this is under threat. The US House of Representatives just passed a budget that included Medicaid cuts of $88 billion a year for the next 10 years. This means a 22 percent decrease in NH. It guarantees the 60,000 NH residents covered by Medicaid expansion will lose their healthcare entirely just like Jim’s evening caregiver who has Parkinson’s and depends on this program for her treatment.

Meanwhile, our governor is proposing Granite Staters living on as little as $15,500/year pay 5% of their income to keep their Medicaid coverage. With the cost of living skyrocketing thanks to Trump’s tariffs that 5% will be an unbearable burden.

Only a tiny percentage of the people Jim and I run into every day have any idea how vital this program is to our lives. Who knows how many people you cross paths with depend on it too?

Find out what you can do to protect your community and all the people who make it great by going to NHNeedsMedicaid.com and taking action.

Patricia Vincent-Piet lives in Concord and is a person with a disability, family caregiver and advocate.

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