Apr 17, 2025 2 min read

When I was diagnosed with stage III melanoma as a 27-year-old mom to a little boy who just finished kindergarten, I did not know where to turn. Countless questions swirled in my head. How would I pay for my treatment? Would I have to take on debt in order to survive? Would cancer set my family back financially?

Thankfully, each of my questions were answered: Medicaid would cover my treatment, enable me to avoid debt, and save my family from financial ruin. If not for my Medicaid coverage, I could’ve been forced to make decisions that favored my financial health at the cost of my physical health.

It is because of Medicaid that I am alive and my son still has a mother.

Medicaid still plays a huge role in my life and survivorship. It affords me the ability to keep up with my scans and prescriptions without fear of being able to put food on the table or keep a roof over my family’s head.

I am very worried that the cuts to Medicaid being talked about in Congress could put me and other cancer patients at risk of losing our health coverage. It terrifies me that I could lose Medicaid and, very quickly, my cancer could come back. I do not know what I would do in that case – Food could be taken off my table and the roof over my head could disappear.

Losing my Medicaid coverage would be detrimental to my and my son’s lives. That is why I am asking Congress to protect Medicaid and see it for the lifeline it provides to families like mine.

Brittanny Groover

Dilliner