This commentary is by Kendra LaRoche of Manchester. She is a member of the Upper Valley DEIA Solidarity Group and executive director of the Special Needs Support Center in White River Junction.
In recent weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget proposal that would make the deepest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (food assistance) in our nation’s history — slashing vital programs that thousands of Upper Valley residents depend on to survive.
As a member of the Upper Valley DEIA Solidarity Group and someone who works closely with our region’s disabled, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous and rural neighbors, I cannot stay silent.
If these cuts become law, the impact on our communities in Grafton and Sullivan Counties in New Hampshire, and Windsor and Orange Counties in Vermont would be nothing short of devastating.
Medicaid cuts: loss of life-saving health care
The bill proposes mandatory work requirements for Medicaid coverage — a policy the Congressional Budget Office estimates would cause over 7.6 million Americans to lose health care.
In the Upper Valley, we estimate that approximately 59,700 people with disabilities rely on Medicaid for care. Many cannot work due to disability, and yet these cuts would force them into an impossible choice: prove “worthiness” or lose coverage.
Adding insult to injury, the bill would ban Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care — targeting some of our most vulnerable LGBTQIA+ neighbors at a time when attacks on trans rights are already escalating
SNAP Cuts: a recipe for hunger and hardship
The proposed cuts to SNAP are equally brutal:
- Nearly $300 billion in funding cuts — the largest in the program’s history.
- New work requirements extended to adults aged 55–64 and parents of school-age children — groups who already face barriers to employment in rural areas.
- A shift of costs to states — likely forcing reductions in benefits or eligibility.
Who will this hurt? Rural, Disabled, and BIPOC families in our region who are already struggling to afford housing and transportation — let alone groceries
The local picture: Upper Valley at risk
Consider just a few facts:
- In Grafton County, New Hampshire, 10.1% of residents — over 9,000 people — identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color. In Sullivan County, it’s 5.6%. These communities already face disproportionate health disparities and economic barriers.
- LGBTQIA+ residents across the Upper Valley rely on Medicaid for mental health care, gender-affirming care and primary care — all under threat.
- Over 585 people with disabilities served by the Special Needs Support Center alone stand to lose crucial supports if Medicaid and SNAP funding are gutted.
- Rural hospitals in New Hampshire and Vermont — already financially fragile — could be forced to close as Medicaid revenues disappear. This would leave entire towns with no local healthcare.
A call to our senators
I urge our New Hampshire and Vermont Senators — Sens. Shaheen, Hassan, Sanders and Welch — to stand up for the most vulnerable among us and publicly oppose these budget cuts.
Medicaid and SNAP are not luxuries. They are lifelines. They are the difference between a child having dinner or going hungry, between an elder accessing needed medication or ending up in the ER, between a trans person accessing affirming care or facing discrimination and despair.
Our senators have long championed healthcare access and rural justice. We ask them now to vote NO on any budget that balances its books on the backs of disabled, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous and rural residents.
The Upper Valley deserves better. Our neighbors deserve better. We must protect Medicaid and SNAP — not destroy them.
