Capitol Hill was blanketed in protesters earlier this week as lawmakers debated the ‘big, beautiful bill’ that would slash health spending by about $880 billion over 10 years and lead to 8.6 million poor and disabled people to lose their insurance by 2034.

One of those protesters was Olga from Youngstown, Ohio.

She was present at Tuesday’s House Ways and Means Committee meeting about the proposed budget from the White House and changes to policy that would gut the federal health program.

From a wheelchair, the woman yelled: ‘You will kill me [if you cut Medicaid]! I’m HIV positive. For 20 years, I have survived on my meds that are $10,000 a month.’

She was slowly wheeled out Capitol Police after yelling ‘Look at me!’ to lawmakers on the dais.

Hearing rooms across the Hill were filled with tense debates this week over the White House’s proposed budget bill, which must be fine-tuned, debated, and voted on by Congress.

But to pay for the staggering $5 trillion in tax cuts that President Donald Trump is requesting, Republicans are seeking to slash federal spending and Medicaid is on the chopping block, leaving people like Olga potentially responsible for staggeringly high drug costs.

Without insurance, infusions of HIV drugs such as Trogarzo and Lenacapavir can cost between $9,000 and $12,000 per month. Without them, people with advanced or drug-resistant HIV can die.

Other Medicaid Beneficiaries with various health conditions – high blood pressure, bipolar disorder, and rheumatoid arthritis, for instance – could soon see their out-of-pocket costs go from zero to several thousand dollars, as well.

Olga’s explosive presence in the Ways and Means Committee hearing room was just one of many on Capitol Hill as people seek to pressure lawmakers to abandon proposed cuts to Medicaid as well as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and policies that would disqualify millions from coverage.

The proposed Republican bill would require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to meet new eligibility conditions, including working at least 80 hours per month, participating in an education or job training program for the same amount of time, or fulfilling a combination of both. 

It exempts people who are disabled, pregnant or in postpartum care.

More than 70 million Americans rely on Medicaid for health care, including one in six adults and two in five children. 

Critics of the work requirement proposal say it imposes significant bureaucratic hurdles on both beneficiaries and state agencies, often leading to eligible people losing coverage due to paperwork issues rather than actual non-compliance.

Georgia’s experiment with Medicaid work requirements — a conservative alternative to full Medicaid expansion- had the opposite effect on money spent per person on healthcare.

The state’s per-enrollee spending surged to $13,360 annually, more than five times initial projections. Instead of funding care, most of these costs were swallowed by administrative bureaucracy — verifying compliance with work rules, paperwork processing, and managing enrollment churn. 

Meanwhile, thousands lost coverage, and the state saw no significant improvement in health outcomes. 

Despite projections that 240,000 low-income residents would gain coverage, only 6,500 enrolled in the program’s first 18 months, as complex paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles locked out eligible applicants.

That policy is still in place. 

Meanwhile, in a House Energy and Commerce meeting, Capitol Police removed 26 protesters, including disability advocates, from the hearing as chants of ‘protect Medicaid’ and heated denials of program abuse allegations disrupted proceedings.

Several Republicans, though, have stood up against the cuts.  

The bill failed to advance out of the House Budget Committee on Friday after five Republicans broke ranks to join all Democrats in opposition, with Medicaid cuts being a major sticking point.

Conservative hardliners Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) rejected the measure on ideological grounds, while Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) made a last-minute switch from ‘yes’ to ‘no’ to preserve the panel’s ability to reconsider the legislation later.