Future Medicaid reductions could hurt children with disabilities
Parents of children with disabilities say that Medicaid reductions in “One Big Beautiful Bill” directly affect their child’s well-being.
Editor’s Note: This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in a crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat with 988 at 988lifeline.org.
After angie Shue takes her a few minutes, she runs off to the back porch in Westerville, Ohio, where she sits and hears the birds cry.
She stares at the bushy basil plants in a large pot and the aging Macintosh apple tree in her garden. She says her feelings of overwhelm are temporary, but she knows that the mixed chaos associated with motherhood is part of the transaction. She always wanted to be a mom. She loves three daughters. Evelyn, 17; Sofia, 14; and her youngest, four-year-old Rachel, born from Down syndrome during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sheu, 44, said she had thoughts of suicide three times. 30 years ago, again in 2021, again in the fall of 2024, and more recently, at that moment she thought, “Should I leave?”
“It usually follows a period of catastrophe,” Shue said. “It usually follows a period of hopeless and helplessness, not knowing what to do and feeling unsure of an answer.”
According to the CDC, an estimated 4.3% of the US population experiences suicide thoughts, but among caregivers, the rate of suicidal ideation could exceed the general population. Suicidal thoughts were found to be the highest in parents of children with disabilities (42%), veteran caregivers (23.6%), and dementia caregivers (32%). While experts have been turning the alarm for several years, caregivers are focused on what they care about, so they are often less likely to seek help. A 2024 survey found that among parents of children with disabilities who experience suicide thoughts and behaviors, more than half (53%) had never revealed these thoughts or experiences to anyone.
“Wendy Martinez Farmer, vice president of 988 Strategy, Grants and Clinical Standards,” said Wendy Martinez Farmer. “But these feelings you have, being trapped and irritated, sometimes angry, requires normalizing a very normal conversation.”
Scheu had no plans to harm herself, so she always said that within a day she could speak herself from the thoughts of suicide. She told her mother and husband about these thoughts, but withheld details. She doesn’t want to worry about her family.
“There’s no reason for the alarm,” she said.
In an ideal world, Shue said he would go back to treatment, but for now, that’s not an option.
Adult caregivers report worsening mental health outcomes, but often “restrain yourself from your happiness.”
Factors that can increase the risk of suicidal ideation among caregivers include the existing mental health struggles exacerbated by high care burden, fatigue, social isolation, feelings of stress and confinement, preemptive sadness, and financial difficulties. Losing someone who cared for can lead to aimless emotions, a risk factor, even among the general public.
“A lot of what caregivers experience is exactly those things that we worry about when we think about risk factors for suicide,” Farmer said.
In a 2016 survey, over half (55.4%) of hospice and mitigation social workers reported working with one or more caregivers who showed warning signs of suicide. During the pandemic, 30.7% of self-reported unpaid caregivers for adults who committed suicide were seriously considered suicide, compared to 10.7% of the general population. Additionally, adult caregivers reported disproportionately experiencing increased mental health outcomes and substance use.
However, caregivers often don’t have the time to “rest, recover, and care for their needs.” This allows you to “give up your happiness.”
“Sometimes being a mom means your needs are the last time,” Shu said. “I think that’s what every mom can shake her head at Jesus.”
Farmer said feelings of shame can contribute to caregivers’ hesitations to discuss the idea of suicide.
“When you’re caring for people, people call you a hero. And heroes don’t ask for help, right? We need to change that story. You have to take care of yourself in order to be healthy enough to care for those you love,” Farmer said.
Due to financial barriers, caregivers do not seek mental health help
According to Farmer, caregivers often call the 988 Helpline on someone else’s behalf. These conversations can also create mental health challenges for the caregiver themselves.
While access to crisis assistance is lifesaving, legal Rossner challenges the idea that talk therapy is the only gold standard for supporting caregivers. Rather, it is one component of a larger equation.
Jurist-Rosner said concrete support (such as financial support and relief from administrative tasks) to ease some of the caregiving needs is important.
“If you’re physically overwhelmed, feeling hunger for time, worried about your financial future, and worrying about putting food on the table because the cost of care is so difficult, will spend an hour with a therapist change any of that?” she said.
Scheu said she went to online therapy in 2023 after parent-child stress gave up on her professional dreams and began closing her sustainable homeware stores.
However, when she ran out of limited sessions paid by her husband’s health insurance, she couldn’t continue.
“We had to use our funds and use our HSA accounts for other things,” she said. Her daughter has countless health conditions and frequently requires doctor visits.
Shari Turner, chief health officer at Crisis Text Line, worries that Medicaid cuts will disproportionately affect caregivers. “They will affect the care of underserved people,” she said. “And many caregivers rely on Medicaid to support or complement the people they care for.”
Economic stress, social isolation is the “perfect storm” for male caregivers
While most of the American caregivers are women, more men assume the role of caregiving and are more active parents than ever before.
This adds additional responsibility, stress, and some men struggle. But they don’t want to talk about it, said Gary Barker, CEO and president of Equimundo, a nonprofit organization dedicated to gender equality and violence prevention.
A 2025 report from the nonprofit American Men surveyed nearly 2,500 people, with 86% of men and 77% of women saying they are providers. Men facing economic tensions are 16 times more likely to report suicidal thoughts, while women facing financial tensions are seven times more likely to report suicidal thoughts.
The financial stress and social isolation that many male caregivers feel is a “perfect storm,” Barker said. But men are “a much less likely to seek help,” he said. Americans don’t do a good job teaching young boys and men how to deal with their emotions and practice mindfulness, Barker added. But it’s “if we do that, it’s really rewarding.”
“I think I’m a man who will probably retreat when he can reach the edge that harms himself or someone else,” Barker said.
“Too many people rely on me.”
Scheu works part-time for a nonprofit organization. She works mainly at night and weekends, so she can take care of girls during the day.
Her days are full of concern. Be concerned about her daughter’s health and her family’s budget.
“It’s easy to have a catastrophe,” she said. “I try not to let you go that path anymore… there are too many people who rely on me.”
Her main entrance is decorated with a sign that reads “Welcome to Camp Chaos.” Inside, Rachel’s toys are scattered across the floor, and her cry of joy fills the air.
But in her back pouch, Shu finds a tranquility. She returns to remind herself: “This is temporary.”
Madeline Mitchell’s role in covering women and caregiving economy at USA Today is supported by partnership with extremely and Journalism Funding Partner. Funders do not provide editor input.
You reach Madeline with memitchell@usatoday.com and @maddiemitch_ x.
(This story has been updated to include a video.)
