In a recent interview, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said he “firmly supported” the GOP tax law that slashes health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Michiganders and threatens rural hospital closures throughout Michigan. As a family physician in Flint, I won’t stay silent while he pushes an agenda that dismantles my patients’ health care.
Every week in my practice, I witness Medicaid’s power to transform and save lives. I’ve treated an uninsured woman with a new cancer diagnosis who could only receive life-saving treatment because she qualified for Medicaid. That treatment gave her precious time with her family. Under Rogers’ supported cuts, she might not have had that chance.
The Medicaid cuts backed by Rogers will create a vicious cycle of suffering. Patients who lose coverage won’t stop getting sick—they’ll just stop getting preventive care. Instead of managing conditions affordably through regular checkups, patients will end up in emergency rooms with life-threatening crises, driving up costs that get passed to everyone else.
Meanwhile, Mike Rogers is doubling down, even claiming that our rural hospitals will have “adequate protection” from his Medicaid cuts. This is either profound ignorance or a deliberate deception on his part. In fact, rural hospitals are estimated to lose between $58 billion and $137 billion because of the budget he supports, and several facilities in Michiganare now at high risk of closure, putting entire communities at risk of becoming health care deserts.
The most infuriating part? Mike Rogers is backing these cruel Medicaid cuts while supporting tax breaks for millionaires like himself.
This isn’t just bad policy. It’s a moral failure. Rogers abandoned Michigan for Florida years ago, got rich through his political connections, and now wants to return to cash in on us again by dismantling the health care infrastructure our most vulnerable residents depend on.
As a physician, I took an oath to “do no harm.” These cruel Medicaid cuts violate that fundamental principle. That’s why Michigan’s doctors cannot and will not stand by while Mike Rogers pushes an agenda that will harm our patients, harm our families, and harm our communities.
(Dr. Aisha Harris, MD, is a Family Medicine Doctor in Flint, Mich. at Harris Family Health.)