This past weekend I had the privilege to travel the rural roads of Indiana with a group of fellow Hoosiers from southern Indiana in an act of solidarity to decry the cuts to Medicaid and the further risk to our rural hospitals. We called ourselves the Motorcade for Medicaid, a small but mighty brigade committed to the simple truth that all Hoosiers, regardless of zip code or bank account, deserve quality healthcare. Sadly, too many of us are at the mercy of a profiteering business model that looks at us as captive consumers, not patients or clients. Our bodies and minds have been reduced to a commodity, with access to the care we need only available to those who qualify - and those qualifications can change at the drop of a legislative pen.
The idea was pretty simple. Connect to rural hospitals the easiest way possible by driving there…together. We decorated our cars with phrases like, “Save Rural Health”, “Stop Medicaid Cuts”, “Our health is an inalienable right”, or “RIP Medicaid…Republicans Did This”. Every vehicle had on their back window the words “Motorcade for Medicaid” written in window chalk and somewhere on a side window, a simply drawn, yellow sunflower. Somehow the yellow flower softened the edges of the anger and hurt the other words conveyed. It didn’t minimize the pain, but it was a gentle reminder that we are all experiencing these cuts together. It was a shout out to Organizing Indiana’s Summer of Solidarity, and indeed the rally was.
Organized by national Families First and Indiana’s Hoosier Action, the Indiana Rural Summit was invited to participate. I was the one who received that invitation, it seemed a motorcade across southern Indiana could work well for us. I also contacted Scott Aaron Rogers of HoosLeft to see if he would consider hosting an all-day podcast where everyone participating in this statewide day of action could call in and share what they were doing or their personal story of impact around Medicaid. It was nonstop testimonials all day. Our motorcade jumped on throughout the afternoon to share our journey. It was a powerful experience.
As we deliberately took the “roads less traveled” across Morgan, Putnam, Monroe, Owen, Clay, Sullivan, Daviess, Bartholomew, Jennings, Warrick, Harrison, and Washington counties, we noted how much had been lost in our small towns. It was like a “Life and Death” tour - vibrant crops and wildflowers adorned the hillsides while derelict buildings and abandoned barns memorialized the profound loss of a bygone era. We began counting the Dollar Generals, Liquor Stores, and Casey’s gas stations along the way. Indiana is largely a trail of shuttered small towns. Time and time again, we see our communities being lost through a lack of opportunity and investment. There is rarely a “village” left to “raise a child”.
As we passed by miles between hospitals, navigating road construction and a few detours in between spotty cell phone coverage, the sobering truth was felt by all. In an emergency, any loss of rural healthcare becomes a life or death race to the nearest hospital, soon perhaps to become many more miles away. What folks don’t realize is that Medicaid connects us all. An elderly grandparent who goes to the hospital and is released into hospice care at a nursing home relies on Medicaid. If they lose Medicaid, they must find other accommodations or stay at the hospital. That is one less bed for the patient traveling cross-county who requires emergency care. Or the child who has to miss a full day of school simply to accommodate travel to a pediatric specialist who is no longer within 30 minutes of their home. (And now, when those days add up to 10 or more absences, even if excused, the student and family risk punitive measures from their school for chronic absenteeism.)
One day I hope to take another Motorcade, this time to simply absorb the beauty that we have in Indiana. For example, there was a little white church that we found rounding a bend in the road. It was on the corner of a four-way stop surrounded by trees and cornfields. The brilliant white building with its tall steeple stood out in stark contrast to the cool green freshly mowed lawn and the perfectly squared edging of corn fields. It reminded me of a scene from “Field of Dreams”. Perhaps the motto of the work we do, whether it is campaigning or grassroots organizing or simply participating in an act of Joyful resistance… “If you build it, they will come.” Let’s build it, together.
To learn more about how cuts to Medicaid will impact Hoosiers and how to share information with others, download the Families First Medicaid Talking Points
