Fredericksburg Area Residents Ask Vindman and Congress to Advocate for the Healthcare Safety Net
Fear about potential cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs is real.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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If Karen Young loses Medicare, her life will be scary. If she loses her Veterans Affairs healthcare benefits, it will be “really, really scary.”
“At that point, I will go to Alaska, find an ice flow, push myself off, and be done with it,” said Young, who lives locally and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. “Because my condition will kill me” if it’s not treated.
Young lives with smoldering multiple myeloma, a blood and bone marrow disorder that is often a precursor or early sign of the rare blood cancer multiple myeloma.
She’s unable to work because of her condition, she said, and lives solely on income from Social Security; in 2024, her income was just over $16,000 per year. She receives $72 per month through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and depends on the VA for treatment of her disorder.
Last week, Young, along with several other local members of Virginia Organizing’s Fredericksburg chapter, traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with a legislative aide for Congressman Eugene Vindman, who represents Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
They wanted to express their fears about potential cuts to safety-net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP—fears that Young equates to the proverbial Sword of Damocles.
“It will fall and impale us and we’ll die,” she said.
Budget Framework Requires Billions in Cuts
The budget framework passed this week by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid (the government health insurance program for children and adults with limited means) and part of Medicare (the health insurance program for those aged 65 and older, or younger with disabilities) to reduce spending by $880 billion over the next decade.
It also directs the Agriculture Committee, which oversees SNAP, to cut $230 billion.
Although the budget resolution does not mention specific programs, “major cuts to Medicaid are the only way to meet the House’s budget resolution requiring $880 billion (or more) in spending reductions,” according to an article from the Kaiser Health News, an independent newsroom providing coverage of health care policy.
That’s assuming no cuts to Medicare, the article continues.
These programs support millions of families statewide and thousands in the Fredericksburg region.
Virginia’s Medicaid program—the Family Access to Medical Insurance Security Plan or FAMIS—covers 1.7 million people in the state, according to Virginia Organizing. That includes 685,304 children, or 30% of all children in Virginia, and 79,358 older adults.
In the 7th district, 167,709 residents are covered by Medicaid.
In January, 16,155 households in Planning District 16—Fredericksburg City and the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, and King George—participated in the SNAP program.
And as of December 2024, 64,561 residents of Planning District 16 were enrolled in Medicare, according to the monthly enrollment dashboard at the website of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
“The cautionary tale for the average person”
The Medicaid expansion program allowed 630,000 new Virginians to enroll in Medicaid, including 10,000 in Spotsylvania; 9,700 in Stafford; 3,000 in Fredericksburg; 2,800 in Caroline; and 1,400 in King George, according to the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services.
April Sampler, who attended this week’s meeting in Vindman’s office, is one of the beneficiaries of Medicaid expansion.
Sampler describes herself as “the cautionary tale for the average person.” She came from a low-income family, put herself through college, became the first in her family to graduate with an advanced degree, and worked for 21 years in the field of genetics.
“I worked nights, weekends, holidays, 10-hour days, 60-hour weeks,” Sampler wrote in a letter to Vindman. “I would still be working that job today if I hadn’t become ill.”
On the advice of her doctor, Sampler left her job. She tried to find another job with accommodation for her condition through the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitation, but the department was unable to place her.
“Despite my doctor’s recommendation and DARS advising that they would be unable to place me in a suitable job, I was denied disability, the safety net I paid for out of every single paycheck I received since I started working,” Sampler wrote.
It took nine years to get disability insurance, and in that time, she lost everything she had saved.
“I had a house, savings, retirement, stocks. I lost everything,” Sampler said. “The American Dream was great until I woke up. I paid for a safety net that didn’t catch me when I fell. And the disability system is designed to take you back to square one.”
Sampler said she felt like she had regained some level of security until federal agencies started to announce layoffs and cuts to comply with the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders.
She said this is the first time she has ever tried to speak with an elected representative before.
“I never thought it was necessary until now,” she said.
“Without them, I would be a burden on society”
This week’s meeting was also a first for Carol Callender. She receives treatment through the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board for depression and psychosis that has affected her since childhood.
“They’re angels,” Callender said of her mental healthcare providers, who have helped her through multiple suicide attempts. “They make my life liveable.”
RACSB has already had to cut a teen mental health first aid program as a result of the Centers for Disease Control reclaiming $11.4 million in COVID-era funding for local health departments.
And the organization is worried about how layoffs and early retirements at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department could affect its programming—not to mention cuts to Medicaid.
Amy Umble, RACSB’s communications coordinator, said the organization last year served “1,757 individuals with developmental disabilities whose care is covered by Medicaid. We also provided mental health and substance use disorder services to 5,189 people [such as Callender]. About 40% of them would lose coverage if Medicaid expansion is targeted.”
Callender wrote in a letter to Vindman that she “NEED[S] [her RACSB providers] to live. Without them, I WOULD be a burden on society and we would be paying a MUCH HIGHER COST.”
The Virginia Organizing members said they met with Vindman’s legislative aide for 30-45 minutes on Tuesday, and they’re not sure that was enough time for their fears to be absorbed.
Virginia Organizing plans to follow-up with Vindman’s office, as well as with local governing bodies, to stress the importance of having a plan to support the community’s healthcare needs.
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