Mandy Bergstrom: Keep Medicaid whole, keep families whole

Living in Idaho, our family has too many blessings to count. We get to raise our kids on our small farm in Eagle, and we enjoy taking advantage of all that Idaho offers. But the biggest blessing to our family has been Medicaid and the lifesaving health care made possible. We are deeply concerned that this lifeline is threatened by deep funding cuts that, until now, Idaho’s congressmen have voted to advance.

Max was born premature and was in the neonatal intensive care unit for six weeks. This would be traumatic for any parent. One source of stress was mitigated when a staff member at the hospital explained that we could access Medicaid through the Katie Beckett program to help pay for the care that was keeping Max alive. While our income was too high to qualify for traditional Medicaid, the Katie Beckett program is expressly for kids with complex medical needs and costs that exceed most family budgets. This gave us peace of mind and allowed us to focus on caring for our infant son.

Max was discharged from the NICU with a nasogastric tube for feeding. At that point, Medicaid covered the home health nurses and therapists with specialized knowledge that Max needed weekly. When Max was just 3 months old, he had to have open heart surgery, which left him needing oxygen therapy. Medicaid covered this too.

Fortunately, Max pushed through these medical crises. Our smiling, healthy son and little brother to Jake brings us joy every day. And Medicaid is still there for us.

Because Max has Down syndrome, he requires ongoing therapies, including speech, physical and occupational. Medicaid covers the care that is imperative for his development and optimizes his potential for inclusion in our society and a successful adulthood – every parent’s dream for their children.

The support we received from Medicaid was much more than financial. It meant we didn’t have to weigh whether we’d have to go bankrupt in order to save our son’s life.

In fact, his care was so costly, even in bankruptcy, there was no possible way for us to pay for it.

Max would not be alive without his NICU care or his heart surgery and he would not be thriving without his ongoing therapies. But Max is just one of more than 100,000 Idaho kids who relies on Medicaid for their health and development. The budget plan in Congress that calls for $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid threatens our kids and their families today. Both Congressmen Simpson and Congressmen Fulcher have voted to approve this plan. But it’s not too late to fight for our kids. We can still keep Medicaid strong today and for the coming generations of kids whose lives may depend on it.

If it weren’t for Medicaid, I’m not sure Max would still be with us. Losing a child is too painful to bear and something I wouldn’t wish on any family. Medicaid has kept our family whole. I implore Idaho’s entire congressional delegation to keep Medicaid whole.

Mandy Bergstrom lives in Eagle on the small family farm she shares with her husband and two kids.