I’ve seen firsthand the importance of Medicaid, especially before it existed.

My mother was a domestic worker, cleaning homes all her life. She worked tirelessly, regularly pushing through pain, because she was determined to build a better future for my sister and me. Despite working full-time, my mother still couldn’t afford health insurance, and there was no Medicaid for her to fall back on.

My sister had sickle cell disease, a rare hereditary disease that can cause excruciating pain. Growing up, I spent many late nights in the ER with my sister as she navigated her debilitating condition.

I often think what a difference it would have made to have health insurance. If my sister wouldn’t have suffered as much if she had access to comprehensive care and treatment. If my mother wouldn’t have had to work herself to exhaustion to provide for us.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, housing assistance and other programs exist to ensure that every American has the foundation they need to build a life of dignity and opportunity. Yet Republicans are putting these programs on the chopping block to fund their trillion-dollar tax cuts to billionaires.

Over 2.6 million North Carolinians rely on services funded by Medicaid. This includes care for veterans with chronic conditions, long-term care in nursing facilities for our elderly, and health care for working people whose jobs don’t offer it.

Medicaid is also important for North Carolinians like Laura Kelly of Charlotte. She recently shared with me her concerns about how cutting health care would impact her life.

"I’ve relied on Medicaid for as long as I can remember. When I was 5, my aunt took my sister and me after we were placed in foster care. She didn't have much, but she had Medicaid, and it kept her from drowning in medical debt. Years later, when I became a mom myself, Medicaid was there for me, too. It covered my prenatal care giving my babies a strong start at life.

I work full-time at the airport. I take care of elderly passengers, disabled passengers and unaccompanied minors. I get them where they need to go. I make sure they’re safe. But when my shift ends, I go home to a motel room I can barely afford. I’ve faced eviction more than once. I work every day, and I still can’t make ends meet.

Last year, I was rushed to the hospital with severe anemia. The costs on the first night alone, before any real treatment, were astronomical. Without Medicaid, I wouldn’t have gone. I would have waited. And I might not be here to tell you this story. Or to wake up the next day and care for my daughter, who has epilepsy. Without Medicaid, she can’t get her meds. And without them, she won’t survive."

Cuts to Medicaid and other essential programs are not budget line items for people like Laura, like my sister, like my mother, and so many of us. They are the difference between life and death.

Republicans in Congress will try to slash Medicaid without caring about the lives they threaten with their votes but make no mistake, my colleagues and I will do everything we can to make sure these cuts don’t happen. But to my fellow North Carolinians: we need your help.

Now is the time to make calls to congressional offices and attend town halls, get involved with advocacy organizations in your community, and let anyone trying to cut Medicaid know that they will hear the voice of the American people – both now and at the ballot box.

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