As a result, 17 million Americans will have coverage ripped away from them, all for tax breaks whose biggest beneficiaries will be billionaires and big corporations.

The latest estimate reported by the Minnesota Reformer shows at least 140,000 Minnesotans will lose coverage. The consequences of this bill will be felt for years to come, but some of its worst provisions will take effect in a matter of months.

Families like mine rely on Medicaid to keep our children, and our loved ones, healthy.

Our family receives Medicaid for our 11 year old daughter. She has a primary immune deficiency as well as a tethered spinal cord. Her medication costs over $75,000 a year, which we could not afford on our own or with my husband’s insurance.

Medicaid helps my daughter maintain her health so she does not end up critically ill with severe infections. It also prevents hospital visits and allows her to remain in school. Medicaid also helps cover the costs to monitor her tethered spinal cord and provide her with life-changing physical therapy. Without it, she could be at risk of losing her ability to be mobile.

Medicaid has changed her life.

Starting in 2026, families in Minnesota will feel the full force of the severe health care cuts.

First, premiums and out-of-pocket costs will skyrocket for people who purchase their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, and many will lose coverage altogether due to miles of red tape.

Then, devastating cuts to Medicaid will begin to take effect. The savings are expected to come from pushing people off Medicaid through increasing eligibility verification. If we don’t vigilantly submit the correct paperwork, my daughter could lose her coverage.

At risk are hospitals whose patients are on Medicaid; seniors who need Medicaid for their nursing home care; and people fighting addiction or cancer.

Costs will skyrocket across the board: Minnesotans will be forced to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, face longer wait times due to hospital closures, and it will be harder for families to get covered and stay covered.

I fear for my daughter’s future — and for the millions of Minnesotans who rely on Medicaid to live. She did not ask for this. Nothing we did caused this. She was simply born with it. Both my husband and I are hard-working, tax-paying citizens that just happen to have a child with complex medical needs. For my daughter, this isn’t just about policy; it’s about survival. Without Medicaid, she loses access to the treatment that keeps her healthy, in school and full of life.

The damage will be felt in every corner of the country, including across Minnesota. In addition to people losing their health coverage, our local economy will suffer, with 18,000 jobs at risk in Minnesota due to these cuts.

Now that the bill is law, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans fully own the consequences. They jammed it through despite the fact that the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of these cuts.

When our premiums spike and out-of-pocket costs soar, families like mine will remember their vote. When we have nowhere to go for treatment, we’ll remember their vote. When our coverage is ripped away, we’ll remember their vote. When the obituaries pile up because people can no longer afford the care they need to stay alive, we’ll remember their vote.

Congressional Republicans must answer for the fallout.

As a mother, I won’t “get over it” as Sen. Mitch McConnell suggests, and I beg you don’t either.