CHICAGO — Rebecca Anger has spent much of her life chasing a dream.Not an extravagant one, but the sort that many Americans quietly work toward: a career with purpose, a home of her own and a spouse to share it with.
At 41, despite extraordinary obstacles, she has largely built that life.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.She and her husband live in a condo overlooking Lake Michigan, a few blocks from Wrigley Field.They spend their free time cheering on the Cubs, attending concerts and traveling.
During the week, she works as a lawyer helping vulnerable Chicagoans stay in their homes.Increasingly, however, Rebecca is haunted by a question about her future: What will happen if she loses the paid caregivers who lift her out of bed each morning, bathe her, feed her and help her through her workday?The past year has provided plenty of reasons to worry.She and millions of other disabled Americans rely on Medicaid for the care that enables them to live in their own homes rather than in institutions.
But that fragile support system has come under assault.Massive funding cuts in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and mounting political attacks have left her terrified that the caregivers who make her dream possible might one day stop showing up.For more on this story, watch NBC’s “Nightly News with Tom Llamas” today at 6 p.m.
ET/5 p.m.CT.Christine O'Connor, a preschool teacher, cares for Rebecca about six hours each week under a Medicaid program that pays $19.50 an hour.Vanessa Valadez for NBC NewsAround 8 a.m.
on a recent Monday, she heard the familiar sound of a key turning in her front door and knew she wouldn’t have to confront that fear today.“Good morning.How’d you sleep?” one of her longtime aides, Christine O’Connor, called as she stepped inside.“Pretty good,” Rebecca replied from bed.Over the next hour, O’Connor lifted her into her power wheelchair,...