In today’s dystopia, at the same time Republicans passed legislation to cut more than $1 trillion in funding from Medicaid — a health care program that allows low-income and disabled children and adults to get the health care they need — first lady Melania Trump was photographed visiting Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., to spend time with sick kids, according to USA Today.
On a day parents, caretakers, doctors and nurses worried more than ever about the future of health care coverage, she visited a hospital that cares for babies and children through Medicaid (among other types of health insurance).
At Children’s National, the first lady talked with the kids, brought gifts, did Fourth of July crafts with them and decorated the hospital garden.
On any other day, this visit would be… fine, but the timing is questionable at best — and cruel at worst — as the so-called Big Beautiful Bill which is expected to take away health care coverage from upwards of 12 million people, makes its way to President Donald Trump’s desk for him to sign into law.
According to reporting from The 19th, $1 trillion dollars will be cut from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program as part of the bill.
While each program has different eligibility requirements and coverage areas, they generally cover health care costs for low-income adults and children, disabled adults and children, and others with limited resources.
Medicaid is a literal lifeline for millions of kids. Roughly 37 million children currently get their health care through Medicaid or CHIP, and Medicaid is “the single largest healthcare insurer for children,” the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia states on its website.
Medicaid and CHIP cover preventive health care for babies and kids so they can stay well and receive vaccinations, physicals and routine dental care. These health care programs are also there to cover costs when something goes wrong (1 in 3 children with cancer are covered by Medicaid).
Medicaid also covers health care for 99% of children in foster care and provides health insurance for 80% of children in poverty.
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Beyond taking away Medicaid from millions, the health care cuts in the “big, beautiful bill” are expected to impact individual hospitals — particularly in rural areas — that now may face closures as they deal with financial issues as a result of the loss of Medicaid funding. So, where will the kids who need care in those areas go, whether they’re on Medicaid or not?
While work requirements for nondisabled adults are at the center of the Medicaid changes, lots of people are worried about what the funding cuts mean for the future of their children’s health. And how could they not?
Budget cuts to health care programs that are in place to keep children and their families healthy certainly aren’t going to “Make America Healthy Again,” the purported goal of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Donald Trump.
And creating a distraction, by way of a hospital visit, from 1 trillion dollars of health care cuts also isn’t going to “Make America Healthy Again.”
It’d be nice to think that the first lady’s visit to Children’s National Hospital wasn’t intentionally cruel, especially as millions of Americans worry about paying for their future doctor’s visits. (Hey, maybe, like her husband, she didn’t realize there were Medicaid cuts in the bill.) But with a track record of wearing a jacket imprinted with “I really don’t care, do u?” it’s hard to give her the benefit of the doubt.