Op-Ed: Medicaid, RFK Jr., And The Death Of White Supremacy

The opinions expressed in audio and on this page are those of the author.

The Trump administration is back at it again. This time, they’re trying to gut Medicaid through what’s being called the “Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s not health policy. It’s a death sentence with a fascist slogan. Almost 9 million Americans stand to lose healthcare, and the usual political narrative says Black and brown folks will suffer most.

But let’s talk about the truth that makes people uncomfortable: the single largest racial group on Medicaid is white.

More than 78 million Americans rely on Medicaid. Nearly 40% of them are white. These are children, the elderly, disabled folks, and low-income workers in red states where Trump flags still flap proudly on front porches. In places like Kentucky, West Virginia, and Arkansas, Medicaid is the only reason some hospitals exist, the only reason cancer patients get chemo, the only reason opioid survivors stay alive. And yet, those are the very states on the chopping block.

Under the GOP plan, Medicaid would be turned into a block grant program. This is essentially a starvation diet for state budgets. Less money. More restrictions. Fewer people covered. The math is brutal, and the cruelty is the point. And if that weren’t enough dystopia for the week, RFK Jr. just fired a dozen top scientists and epidemiologists at the CDC. He’s essentially pouring bleach into the nation’s immune system.

Let’s not forget: during the height of COVID, white Americans made up the largest share of deaths. Rural white communities were hollowed out while public health was turned into a partisan punching bag. And now the very infrastructure that could prevent the next mass casualty event is being ripped to shreds.

While Medicaid has long been framed in the popular imagination as a “welfare program” for others, the reality is different and always has been. It’s poor white families, veterans, rural seniors, and disabled children who will bleed first. But GOP leaders would rather torch the entire safety net than admit government can work, especially if it works for people they’ve trained voters to resent.

This is the logic of white supremacy: if saving white folks means saving someone darker, they’d rather burn it all down.

To understand why white Trump supporters keep cheering for policies that kill them, and how Medicaid cuts are just the latest chapter in the long, arc of white supremacy, tune in to this week’s first episode of The Covfefe Chronicles. Listen to the audio above.

Dr. Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist and author of “Spare The Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America” and the forthcoming “Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Children In Jim Crow America.” Read her Substack here.

SEE ALSO:

Op-Ed: You Don’t Get To Burn It Down If You’ve Never Built A Damn Thing

Op-Ed: Care For Constituents Or Chaos? Medicaid Cuts Will Devastate All Of Us