Medicaid cuts may impact everyone from parents to children and other vulnerable Nevada populations.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Donna Smith, a longtime foster care parent in Nevada, shared a deeply personal story that underscored the vital role of Medicaid in supporting children with trauma, emphasizing its necessity for weekly therapy and residential treatment. 

Alongside Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), at the Nevada Democratic Party office, Smith told a virtual audience that Medicaid-funded therapy has been crucial in helping her daughter begin to recover from lingering fears of food scarcity stemming from early childhood neglect. 

“Although her eyes and her experience in my home told her that food was always there, her body‘s memory of early childhood food insecurities did not,” Smith said. “That memory remains still today, almost nine years later.”

Smith criticized House Republicans, warning that such cuts could collapse the foster care system and have severe consequences for children and families, adding that hope would be lost for thousands of struggling households.

As of 2023 data, roughly 4,000 children are in the state’s foster case system. Smith said some experience trauma from being in government custody. A parent of four adopted children from Clark County’s foster care system, Smith urged voters to call their Senators to request that they oppose the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Republicans in Congress passed by a single vote last week, which would put the 738,000 children and adults on Medicaid in Nevada at risks of losing essential services too. 

Smith also lamented that Medicaid cuts could weaken hope for “hard working, loving people” across the country.

“We used to take pride in the idea that we were a city on a hill, a beacon of hope,” she said. “If the men and women elected … allow Medicaid to be successfully gutted, they will have placed a jar over the light that once gave hope to us all.”

Horsford, who continues to raise awareness in his district about the changes being proposed by House Republicans as part of President Donald Trump’s economic plans, hosted the press conference to raise awareness about possible changes and to condemn the “disastrous bill” which progressive policy experts say ushers in the greatest wealth transfer in American history. 

Each congressional district faces the risk of losing health care coverage and food assistance for tens of thousands of people as part of a plan to cut federal tax revenue by $4.0 trillion, according to the Tax Foundation. In Horsford’s district —which covers most of northern Clark County, including downtown Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and rural areas, such as southern Lyon County, most of Lincoln County, and all of Esmeralda, Mineral and Nye counties—an estimated 23,000 individuals are at risk of losing health care, and 33,000 could lose food assistance. That’s the highest estimated loss for a single district in Nevada regarding health care and food support.

“If this sounds cruel and reckless, it’s because it is,” he said.

Horsford hammered Republicans for slashing hundreds of billions from federal safety nets to fund permanent tax cuts for billionaires. 

This came after Horsford hosted a childcare roundtable on the Historic Westside, where Head Start officials deplored the impending cuts to its program, echoing similar concerns about the future of children. 

“It’s been super frustrating that people just want sound bites from us,” said Tiffany Alston, head of the Nevada Early Childhood Advisory Council. “It doesn’t tell the whole story.”

The conversation highlighted how cuts would disrupt the comprehensive yet scarce childcare system in Nevada that helps thousands of children, across Las Vegas, Mesquite, Laughlin, Ely, Elko, the Reno Sparks Indian colony, the Washoe County tribes, and a seasonal migrant program that serves farmers.

She said the cuts come as Las Vegas maximized its federal dollars to provide a variety of Head Start options for families, including a partnership with Sunrise Children’s Foundation, family child care providers who serve children in homes, and home visiting programs. The expanded program covers 400 little learners in Las Vegas alone and extends to Laughlin, Mesquite, and Pahrump.