Families like mine are terrified about what healthcare cuts will bring in NC | Opinion

On Oct. 21, I stood in front of the NC General Assembly with more than 500 others — parents, advocates, nurses and people whose lives depend on Medicaid. We came together for the North Carolina Medicaid Day of Action, united by one urgent plea to lawmakers and the governor: reverse the devastating Medicaid cuts and fully fund Medicaid.

I was there for my 9-year-old son, Miles.

Miles is medically complex. He lives with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and depends on a tracheostomy, ventilator and G-tube. He requires 140 hours of skilled nursing care every week just to live safely at home, go to school and be part of our community. Medicaid makes that possible. Without it, Miles wouldn’t be able to wake up in his own bed, spend time with his little brother and sister or enjoy the family adventures to the zoo, beach and mountains that he loves so much.

If you met Miles, you’d see more than his medical equipment, you’d see his joy. He plays Miracle League baseball, jams out to The Smashing Pumpkins and Kane Brown and lights up at every holiday. Earlier this year, thanks to his incredible nurses, he even got to experience his Make-A-Wish trip to Disney. These moments, his ability to just be a kid, exist because Medicaid allows us to work and for him to receive care at home.

But that stability is fragile. Over the past nine years, our family has had more than 50 nurses come and go. We’ve gone months without coverage, forcing my husband and me to take turns staying up all night to keep Miles safe. When he travels for work, I cover those nights alone. During my pregnancy with our twins, I was so exhausted from overnight caregiving that I fell down the stairs. Miles has missed months of school because he can’t attend without a licensed nurse, and when nurses are sick or leave for higher-paying jobs, there’s rarely a backup. We’re considered lucky as many North Carolina families have none of their nursing hours filled at all.

That’s why the new Medicaid cuts are so devastating.

When I learned that the General Assembly left Raleigh without acting to fully fund Medicaid and doesn’t plan to return until November, I was heartbroken. And I was angry. How can we turn our backs on the most vulnerable among us? How can we accept a system that forces medically fragile children like my son to lose the care they need to survive?

The cuts that took effect on Oct. 1 are already causing harm. Families are being told their nurses are leaving. Agencies are closing their doors. Care hours are being reduced or eliminated. And those who need the most help are being left to fend for themselves.

This is not sustainable and it is not acceptable.

Cutting Medicaid doesn’t just hurt home care. It sends shockwaves through North Carolina’s entire healthcare system. Hospitals, long-term care facilities and home care agencies all rely on Medicaid funding to keep nurses and caregivers on staff. When funding is slashed, everyone feels it. Hospitals get overcrowded. Nurses burn out. And families like mine lose the very lifeline that keeps our loved ones safe.

North Carolina already faces one of the worst nursing shortages in the country, ranking among the bottom ten states. The NC Board of Nursing projects a shortfall of more than 12,500 registered nurses by 2033, and recent data show roughly 13 percent of registered nurse positions statewide are already vacant. If lawmakers don’t act now, these cuts will make that crisis explode, driving even more skilled nurses out of the field and leaving medically fragile residents with nowhere to turn.

For Miles, and for thousands of others across North Carolina, Medicaid keeps children out of hospitals, seniors in their homes and families together.

The legislature and governor’s funding impasse has real, human consequences. Families like mine are terrified about what the next few weeks will bring. To every North Carolina lawmaker and the governor: we need you to work together to reverse these cuts immediately and fully fund Medicaid so that no child, no senior and no person with disabilities is left without care.

Because every child deserves a chance to live, learn and shine, just like my Miles. And that shouldn’t depend on politics. It should depend on compassion, courage, and the will to do what’s right.

Mary Mac Jenkins lives in Raleigh.

This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM.