- Tina Persels spent weeks urging Utah Congress to oppose Medicaid cuts affecting her disabled son.
- The U.S. House passed the Big Beautiful Bill which is estimated to impacting 60,000 Utahns on Medicaid.
- Critics argue the cuts harm vulnerable groups, despite assurances from Sen. Curtis.
SALT LAKE CITY — Tina Persels has observed a morning ritual for more than three months: drinking a cup of coffee and calling members of Utah's congressional delegation.
Her message: "Do the right thing," Persels told KSL at her home in Salt Lake City.
"None of us can understand why you'd want to cut Medicaid," she said.
Persels left a round of voicemails for the lawmakers again Thursday morning in a last-ditch effort. Within a few hours, however, the U.S. House of Representatives gave final passage to a sweeping tax cut and spending bill containing major changes and cuts to Medicaid, the health program covering aging and low-income people, as well as many with disabilities. Utah's delegation voted in favor of the bill.
For Persels, the phone calls were personal. Her 25-year-old son, Adam Persels, has cerebral palsy and uses tubes to eat. Medicaid waivers provide him with medical supplies and 10 hours of care a week from a skilled nurse.
Nate Crippes with the Utah Disability Law Center and Protect Medicaid Coalition called Medicaid "an incredibly important program."
Crippes noted by some estimates, more than 60,000 people in Utah could lose health coverage under the change. He said Utah's hospitals, nursing homes and state government are also expected to see a drop in federal funding.
"That's going to lead to a lot of different changes," Crippes said. "I don't think we know the full impact."
What he does know worries him, especially for Utahns covered by Medicaid expansion who have a mental illness or substance abuse disorder. They'll have to meet a work requirement or file for exemptions.
"Many of them are going to struggle to meet that paperwork barrier — they're going to lose coverage," Crippes said.
In all her calling to Utah's congressional delegation, Persels hasn't directly reached a representative.
But she's hopeful they've heard her message. And she has gotten one indirect response, she said, through a statement Sen. John Curtis sent to KSL in March. On Thursday, a spokesman for Curtis said his comments remain the same.
"I don't know anyone who wants to take away a safety net from those in our country who truly need it — and that includes individuals with disabilities," Curtis said in the statement. "We're not talking about seniors, children, pregnant women, single parents or people with disabilities. That's not the conversation."
Crippes sees it differently.
"Respectfully to Sen. Curtis, I think you absolutely are talking about that population," Crippes said. "And you know, they can keep saying they're not, but at the end of the day, that is the population that's going to be hit the hardest."
Persels is still waiting to see how the changes in the bill could affect her son. Although he doesn't speak aloud, Adam Persels shared his expansive sunglasses collection and love of the Grateful Dead with KSL earlier this year.
His parents are now looking into pulling from retirement savings should they need to fill a large gap to make sure he's covered.
"Honestly, we have to be positive," Persels said. "Keep as much positivity as we can right now. And sometimes that'll pull us through."
