Belinda Smith swats her grandson’s hand away and snatches the brown paper bag of popcorn from her seat, rolling the top closed tight.
“Go on and get your own,” she says to the boy. “There’s plenty for everybody.”
On this warm Saturday night at the high school baseball field in Glenmora, Louisiana, families unfold camping chairs and spread out blankets, creating islands in the infield. An inflatable projector screen is set up and a line forms at a popcorn cart. “The Sandlot” is about to play as the sun begins to set.
Smith takes care of her two grandchildren, so she’s not working right now. Her son and daughter work, but they don’t make enough to buy private medical insurance. Smith’s whole family is on Medicaid.
So is Charles Ward’s, who slips away from the crowd with his wife, Missy, to feed their newborn in their sedan out in the parking lot. Times are tough, he says, while Missy nurses their son in the car. He was recently laid off.
“I can work, I just can’t find a job way out here,” he says. “Medicaid is the only thing saving us right now.”
News of Medicaid cuts has trickled down to the small town of just over 1,000 people in Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s district, where about 38% of the population are enrolled in the program that provides health coverage to low-income Americans. The budget bill Johnson marshaled House Republicans to pass in May could lead to roughly 190,000 Louisianans becoming uninsured.
If the cuts go through, Smith says she and her family won’t have any coverage.
Concerns about Congress cutting Medicaid extend beyond the baseball diamond in Glenmora.
In meetings on Zoom and in conference rooms across the state, a group of health care organizations and advocates have come together to form a “collective” to sound the alarm about how these proposed federal changes could destabilize the state’s entire public health infrastructure.
That collective includes the United Way of Southeast Louisiana, the New Orleans Health Department, CrescentCare, Invest in Louisiana, Volunteers of America, Louisiana Primary Care Association, American Cancer Association and others.
“The people that are receiving Medicaid benefits are the most vulnerable people in the state of Louisiana,” said SarahJane Guidry, director of policy and advocacy at CrescentCare. “Making sure that they have access to health care is essential… if we take away one of the core elements of a person's life, everything else is going to also be impacted.”
These discussions grew and moved to the state capitol in Baton Rouge, where the group presented their concerns to lawmakers. Guidry said they found a receptive audience. This week, the state’s senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 32, a formal appeal to the U.S. Congress to avoid federal cuts to Medicaid.
The resolution, filed by Republican State Senator Patrick McMath, highlights Medicaid’s role as a critical safety net for more than 1.6 million Louisiana residents, including children, seniors, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and working families with low incomes. Nearly 70% of nursing home residents and over half of all births in Louisiana are covered through Medicaid.
The cuts would hit rural areas the hardest, weakening hospitals and clinics that are already operating under grave financial strain. The resolution also warns that cuts would likely increase the amount of uncompensated care hospitals provide — driving up health care costs for everyone, including those with private insurance.
“Keeping families healthy is a bipartisan issue,” Guidry said. “And we can see that our state leaders are extremely concerned about making sure that our families stay healthy. This senate resolution elevates the conversation and brings all parties together.”
Copies of the resolution are being sent to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and each member of Louisiana’s congressional delegation — including Speaker Johnson.
State Senator Gregory Miller, a Republican from Norco, Louisiana, summarized the resolution on the senate floor before it was unanimously passed.
“We all understand how we have a lot of people in this state who are poor and depend on Medicaid,” Miller said. “And this is merely to memorialize congress to avoid cuts to the federal Medicaid program.”
The resolution isn’t a law. It doesn’t change the fact that state lawmakers would still have to enact changes to Medicaid if President Donald Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill is passed into law.
But it clearly signals that state lawmakers — Republican and Democratic alike — are aware and worried about how federal Medicaid cuts included in the bill will affect their constituents.
Back in Glenmora, Belinda Smith stands near the pitcher’s mound watching news clips on a phone, with Speaker Johnson saying Medicaid isn’t for “29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.” She says she believes Johnson is “a good Christian man,” but that sound bite eats at her. Her son is 29.
“He has a job,” she says, gripping her bag of popcorn. “But is the minimum wage going to go up? Is the pay going to go up so he can afford the insurance? Is he going to be able to make enough and live?”
As the movie begins, and families settle in to celebrate the start of summer, Smith has one more thought about Speaker Johnson.
“He needs to come down on our level and live like we do,” she says, taking a beat . “He wouldn't survive, I'm afraid.”
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR. Support for public health coverage comes from The Commonwealth Fund.
