MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Medicaid provides over one million people in Wisconsin with health care coverage, but with potential extensive Medicaid cuts on the line, some Wisconsinites living with disabilities are bracing for the worst.
Timothy O’Keefe, 39, has a laundry business, employing two other Wisconsinites with differing abilities. O’Keefe himself is nonverbal—he was diagnosed with autism at two-years-old.
“He’s here every morning working on his laundry,” Mary Pat Kleven, O’Keefe’s mother, said from a Madison laundromat.
The business provides laundry services for 15 other senior citizens or people living with disabilities, most of whom are supported by Medicaid.
“We’re able to provide jobs for people who otherwise would have a very difficult time finding work,” Kleven said. “Nearly everything he does is funded through Medicaid. His caregivers, salaries, job coaches, behavior therapists.”
Nabil Hajjaji is O’Keefe’s job coach, providing transportation, guidance and support.
“Tim owning his business—isn’t that amazing?” Hajjaji said. “Isn’t that what America is all about?”
The Republican House budget proposal directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, to cut $880 billion over the next 10 years. Meeting that budget resolution would require significant cuts to Medicare or Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Timothy’s caretakers say those cuts could close the laundry business.
“You can cut other things, but this one you cannot,” Hajjaji said. “It’s life that depends on that.”
President Donald Trump said he will not touch Medicaid. Last month, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the plan is to target fraud.
“Medicaid is hugely problematic,” Johnson said. “Everyone is committed to preserving Medicare benefits for those that desperately need it and qualify for it. What we’re talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste and abuse.”
In Wisconsin, the federal government pays 60% of Medicaid costs, with the state paying the rest.
“There are thousands of Tims out there and they all need help,” Hajjaji said. “If they don’t have that support, what will happen to them?”
In the meantime, that question—what will happen—remains top of mind for Timothy’s supporters and the one million other Wisconsinites who rely on Medicaid.
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Wisconsinites living with disabilities brace for potential Medicaid cuts
