'It's a nightmare.' Former refugee, professor on Trump's new Medicaid policy
Mustafa Rfat, a professor and former refugee, warns that recent changes to Medicaid under the Trump administration's H.R. 1 budget bill are causing significant hardship for refugees with disabilities. The policy change has removed a critical support system for vulnerable individuals navigating life in the U.S.
Why it matters
The report highlights the human impact of federal budget cuts on marginalized populations and the role of social safety nets in refugee integration.
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Mustafa Rfat has been getting frantic phone calls recently from refugees with disabilities. As of Oct. 1, refugees are losing access to Medicaid across the country because of H.R. 1, the Trump administration's major budget bill Republicans passed last summer.
"I spent these past two weeks just talking with so many of them, literally just terrorized by the reality that their children with disabilities are losing coverage," he says. "For example, a father is a refugee with disabilities, with two kids with disabilities, and he's just confused how he's going to get the medication."
Rfat is a professor of social work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and his research focuses on refugees with disabilities, an experience he knows firsthand.
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