Rhianna Benson
Parents of chronically-ill children across rural America are voicing their heartache and calling for action after Donald Trump slashed their funding in favour of his 'One Big Beautiful Bill'.
The President's financial policy was passed by Republicans in July, after the Trump claimed it would be essential in boosting economic growth.
To do so, however, taxes were cut and the federal deficit was reduced.
More specifically, the bill's initial implementation has already seen massive cuts to Medicaid - the government program that provides health insurance for low-income adults and their families. So much so, that experts predict an almost $1 trillion cut in the coming years, with much of this affecting families living in more remote areas of the country.
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Given the limited access to hospital infrastructure in rural states, the parents of children with intricate medical conditions are expected to have them transported to bigger, further-away cities for treatment. These journeys often set such parents back a great expense.
In one case cited by The Independent, a 28-year-old Louisiana mum named Hannah McDaniel risks losing the life-saving treatment her son Myles, two, after he was born with an incurable heart defect.
Medicaid previously paid for his medical care, which included two open-heart surgeries.
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Not only is McDaniel juggling a number of jobs to care for her little boy, but she also cares for her 10-year-old step-son. Above all this, however, she is expected to make her way through a stack of paperwork to ensure her son's wellbeing if the cuts continue.
"It's all day, every day, all the time, and it is exhausting when you already have this mental load," she told press, adding that the government's passing of the bill feels like they've 'signed Myles' death warrant'.
McDaniel continued: "I am a medical mother whose child's life depends on Medicaid, and I am drowning trying to fight my way through a broken system to keep him alive."
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She added: "You've got to fight these doctors, these health care providers, the state government, the federal government. I knew I had to make it work because Myles is due for his third open heart surgery, which is the most invasive one, and if he doesn't get it, he will die."
There are also very real fears that the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' could result in the closure of hundreds of rural hospitals which, again, will see low-income parents having to fork out for expenses to visit facilities that are further afield.
Amongst them is Jacalyn Stuff, who was told towards the end of her first trimester not only that her twins were in danger, but that she now needed to receive treatment from new facilities over 70 miles away.
The 19-year-old was forced to fork out for petrol, accommodation and childcare in order to make the journeys, painting a heartbreaking picture of the impact Medicaid reductions will have on labor-and-delivery services, as per the Washington Post.
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Discussing the impact of Trump's cuts, West Virginia paediatrician, Lisa Costello told Associated Press: "Any cuts to that program are going to trickle down and impact children, whether that’s paediatric practices who depend on Medicaid to be able to stay open or children’s hospitals."
Another paediatrician, Texas-based Rachel Pearson also wrote in the New Yorker: "Cuts to [the Children’s Health Insurance Program] and Medicaid could eventually affect care for all children."
Another expert in agreement is New Mexico family physician Wendy Johnson, who told press: "This is going to be, I'm afraid, the final nail in the coffin for a lot of rural communities and rural hospitals."
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She told The Independent: "We're really in a very difficult downward spiral in the healthcare system. It's extremely broken, and it's just really going to get crushed with this bill when it all comes into implementation in a couple of years."
In response to the concerns, Trump's administration went on to insist 'there will be no cuts to Medicaid', adding: "We are expanding rural hospital protection, providing targeted funds for rural care, and giving states flexibility to support local providers."