Op-ed: The US is on fire and Congress cut funding for a fire extinguisher 

The United States is burning. Not with literal flames, but with a deep and growing fear of the future. As the fire spreads, fueled by economic strain, aging infrastructure, and worsening inequality, the U.S. House — in passing a budget designed to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest – has turned off the hose, cut off the water supply, and slashed funding for the fire extinguisher.

That fire extinguisher is Medicaid.

For decades, Medicaid has served as the silent lifeline holding together the most fragile edges of American society. It funds the group home for the man with autism who can’t live independently. It supports the outpatient therapist helping a teen survive suicidal thoughts. It ensures that an elderly woman with dementia has a safe bed in a nursing home and care from someone who knows her name. It is not abstract. It is not waste. It is the difference between survival and collapse for tens of millions of Americans.

Now before the U.S. Senate, the budget approved by the House threatens to rip this lifeline away. If enacted, it will slash Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. These aren’t just numbers — they are lives. They are programs and clinics that will shut down, group homes that will close, and families who will have nowhere to turn. The safety net isn’t fraying — it is unraveling.

Yet, the language being used to justify these cuts is chilling in its detachment. Lawmakers speak of “efficiencies,” “entitlement reform,” and “fiscal responsibility” as if these are neutral, technocratic decisions. They are not. They are moral choices. Choices that show, plainly and painfully, a lack of understanding — and worse, a lack of empathy — for those who rely on Medicaid not as a convenience, but as a necessity.

This is a humanitarian crisis in the making.

Those of us who provide critical services in the human services field are not exaggerating when we say we are at a breaking point. We are already battling workforce shortages, surging inflation, and a system stretched to the limit. Without a fully funded Medicaid program, there is no cushion. There is no Plan B. There is only fallout.</div>

Let’s be clear: slashing Medicaid doesn’t just hurt the most vulnerable. It destabilizes entire systems — hospital emergency departments will become overcrowded, prisons will fill with people who should be in treatment, and families will be pushed to the brink as they scramble to care for loved ones with no support.

I urge leaders — at every level of government — to wake up to the devastating consequences of these decisions. This is not just about dollars and cents; it’s about children with complex medical needs losing access to care, seniors being forced out of nursing homes, and people with disabilities left without the supports they need to live safely and with dignity. Over 78 million Americans rely on Medicaid — nearly one in four people in this country. These are not abstract statistics — they are our neighbors, our parents, our children.

When cuts are made, they are rarely restored. The damage is long-term, and the lives disrupted by these choices will feel the effects for generations to come. Entire families will carry the weight of these decisions — in lost care, in financial hardship, and in diminished opportunity.

We must be better than this. As a nation, our strength is measured by how we care for those most in need. Cutting the very foundation of that care is not just a policy decision — it’s a moral and health system failure. And history will remember what we chose to value.

We need a majority of U.S. Senators to stand up, speak their conscience, and say no. We need political courage. And we need it now — before the fire becomes an inferno.

Christopher Tuttle is the President and CEO of Bridgewell, a human services agency based in Peabody.