Minneapolis, Minnesota

Joel Williams is a retired Chicago police officer, a big-time sports fan, and – these days – something of a political activist. His cause: fighting Republican plans to cut roughly  $1.5 trillion from spending on Medicaid and Medicare over the next decade.

A kidney transplant survivor with severe asthma, Williams depends on Medicaid not just for doctor visits and medical procedures, but also to help pay the fees for the group home he lives in. He used to take the program for granted. No more. “I’m scared,” Williams told a reporter for the local ABC station in Minneapolis.

Under the terms of Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Medicaid beneficiaries will face a work or “community service” requirement and more frequent eligibility checks. While the bill makes an exception for people with disabilities, similar provisions in the past have caused many people to be rejected as a result of paperwork problems. The Minnesota Department of Human Services projects that up to 140,000 Minnesotans will lose their Medicaid coverage under the new policies.

“Without [Medicaid], there would be no me,” Williams said at a public forum sponsored by Hennepin Healthcare, the county program where he has been getting care for the past eleven years. “This is major, this is major major,” he said. “I never thought after years of working… It’s unbelievable to me. I’m trying to grasp it.”

Story posted on December 3, 2025.