JACKSON, Miss.—Mary Lee Reed says that government programs like Medicaid have made it possible for her brother, Frank, to live a fulfilling, independent life.
“My brother has Down Syndrome,” she told the Mississippi Free Press on July 14. “It is due to Medicaid and Medicare that (he gets to) live in a group home as independently as he can and to work and have training and have his healthcare needs met. That has been a blessing for our family.”
Reed, a resident of Madison, Mississippi, was one of the demonstrators to rally outside the offices of U.S. Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker in Jackson on July 14, ten days after President Donald Trump signed a massive spending and tax bill into law, referred to as the “Big Beautiful Bill” by Republicans who championed the legislation. Both Wicker and Hyde-Smith voted in favor of the bill.
In addition to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, Trump’s bill imposes $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.
Many of the participants in Monday’s demonstrations in Mississippi’s capital wore orange shirts with bold, white letters on the front reading, “Fed Up? Show Up.” Some attendees held signs with messages like one that read, “34,000 People in Mississippi Will Lose Medicaid.”
The gatherings, led by Fondren Presbyterian Church Pastor Rev. David McDowell, Mississippi Votes’ Interfaith Organizing Manager Rev. Austin Warren and Together for Hope Delta Region Leader Rev. Charlton L. Johnson were part of a coordinated effort. Poor People’s Campaign Co-Chair Rev. William Barber and Repairers of the Breach organized the event as part of their nationwide Moral Mondays movement to call out policies that disproportionately harm poor and marginalized people.
Protests and demonstrations have persisted around the country since Trump’s inauguration into a second term in the White House. Millions of Americans, including thousands in Mississippi, have taken to the streets to oppose the administration’s targeting of immigrants and undocumented workers, attempts to gut federal funding for programs like social security and Medicaid, and its dismantling of decades-old civil rights legal infrastructure.
‘It Will Lead To Death’
Opponents of the Republican-backed “Big, Beautiful Bill” warn that provisions tucked inside the legislation will overhaul how the government funds health care, including shrinking Medicaid coverage, increasing administrative costs for insurers and entailing a work requirement for some enrollees.
Days before President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, NPR released a report outlining the detrimental effect it might have. The government’s decision to cut spending on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces means hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers “will have to absorb more of the cost of treating uninsured people,” NPR reported on July 2.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the “Big, Beautiful Bill” will cut federal spending on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program benefits by $1.02 trillion, in part by eliminating at least 10.5 million people from the programs by 2034, the Center for American Progress reported on July 3, the same day Congress passed the bill.
The Mississippi Division of Medicaid provides health coverage for nearly 28% percent of the state’s population, a 2024 Mississippi Division of Medicaid annual report shows.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said in a statement released by her office that even though the legislation was “not perfect,” it was “a bold step toward forcing greater efficiency, savings, and accountability from our federal government.”
As he led the demonstration outside Hyde-Smith’s office on July 14, Rev. David McDowell disagreed. “It is dangerous. It will hurt people. It will lead to death,” McDowell said.
“It will lead to starvation in the State of Mississippi and those are things that we have to be honest about,” he continued. “We are calling for the repeal and reversal of the budget provisions that criminalize poverty, including the work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP.”
“We call for the cancellation of funding for expanded detention centers, family separation, and militarized border walls,” the reverend added. While the bill cuts funding for programs like Medicaid and SNAP, it “increases funding dramatically” for immigration detention and deportations, the ACLU said in a statement on May 22.
‘I’m Scared’
Rev. Charlton L. Johnson criticized Christians who support policies that cause harm to the poor and marginalized.
“We declare—in so many circles as people of faith—that we are pro-life, but this bill is trying to hinder life and take life, especially for those who are poor and marginalized, ” the reverend said.
“This bill does not demonstrate love for our neighbor; it only demonstrates love to a faithful few,” he continued.
Mary Lee Reed said she fully supported the message laid out by the faith leaders at the rally. She fears how the Medicaid cuts outlined in the legislation might impact the level of care that her brother receives.
While Social Security disability benefits cover caretaking costs for Reed’s brother at his group home in Louisiana, Medicaid covers the costs of his medication and the monitored administration of those medications, she told the Mississippi Free Press.
In a phone interview on July 17, Reed said she previously talked with leadership at the group home, who confided that they were worried about how the bill would impact the level of community-based services they are able to offer.
“(I’ve been) having conversations with the executive director of the group home where he lives, as all this was unfolding. She (told me), ‘I’m scared. I don’t know what this is going to look like and what is going to happen,” Reed told the Mississippi Free Press.
Reed acknowledges that it is too early to know exactly how the cuts might affect her brother’s health care services.
Still, she and her family are cautious of what might come. “Us, as family members, (we are) trying to figure out what the plan looks like if they’re not able to continue their program with future funding,” she continued, adding that she had not spoken with leadership at the group home since the legislation passed.
“There’s been fear at all levels,” she said.
‘We Ask That You Intervene’
Rev. David McDowell closed out the July 14 rally outside Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s office with a prayer before the group headed over to drop a letter at Sen. Roger Wicker’s office. “God of all good things, we are here together in your name to hold up a mirror to our elected officials,” McDowell said. “You are the one who knows what big and beautiful truly means. To you, big and beautiful is an expression of your unrelenting grace, of your compassion, of your inexhaustible love.”
“Your love is too big, too beautiful to cast anyone out,” McDowell continued.
He prayed for “the 34,000 who will lose Medicaid, the 101,000 who will lose SNAP and the millions of Mississippians who will feel those ripple effects.”
“(God) we ask that you intervene in ways we cannot even imagine and use us to find new ways to love our neighbor as we do justice,” he prayed.
The Mississippi Free Press reached out to the offices of Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker for comment on this story but did not hear back by press time.
