Since launching the CBS Evening News Plus, anchor John Dickerson has ended the show with a “Reporter’s Notebook” segment disguised as an often partisan commentary (and not that he needs one given the absurdity of his CBS Evening News the half-hour prior), but for Tuesday’s installment, he ghoulishly tied rural health care and men’s mental health to the proposed work requirements (dubbed “cuts” by the left) in President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.
“When I started reporting on how Medicaid cuts would affect rural health care, I didn’t expect to hear about young men like Alex Jacobsen. For Alex, Medicaid was a lifeline. His father, David, says it supported the rural Iowa hospital where Alex received mental health care,” Dickerson began, adding the qualifier as a way of stating the obvious that men need health care too.
Dickerson would return to the case of Alex Jacobson, but had to first state discussion of care at rural hospitals concerns women “because so many rural hospitals have stopped helping young mothers” and that “[b]etween 2011 and 2023, 24 percent of the country’s rural hospitals stopped providing obstetric services.”
Of course, that’s for a variety of reasons, including staffing shortages (with no one wanting to move), pure costs, and uneven patient volumes to name a few.
But Dickerson then returned to the broader issue of men seeking health care, particularly for their mental health:
But when I talked to midwife Peggy Gautreau in Louisiana about those numbers, she raised another issue, the growing number of men showing up at her clinic for mental health treatment. When care is embedded in a local clinic, when patients don’t have to drive hours or wait in a psychiatric emergency room, they’re more likely to use it. That’s especially true for men, Gautreau said, who often face more stigma when seeking help. If you’re sitting in our waiting room, nobody knows if you’re here for a sore throat or because you couldn’t get out of bed this morning, she said.
Entirely true! And deeply personal to this particular space.
Dickerson returned to the Jacobson family by implying without evidence the tragic end of Alex’s life could be a sign of things to come if President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill to reform Medicaid becomes law:
So, what happens when Medicaid cuts make those services harder to find? That’s what worries Alex’s father, David Jacobsen. He’s seen the system fail. One night, his son called him desperate for help. They waited for hours in the emergency room until a bed opened in Sioux City, more than an hour away. Protocol meant police had to take Alex there in handcuffs. At a recent town hall, Jacobsen’s Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was asked about Medicaid trade-offs. A constituent warned that people will die if they lose coverage.
After airing Ernst’s flippant reply that “we all are going to die,” Dickerson snidely replied that David Jacobson’s father concurred since “Alex died by suicide five years ago.”
“But it’s not about dying, he says. It’s about compassion. It’s about helping the vulnerable while they’re here,” Dickerson concluded.
Notice Dickerson provided zero evidence to support the insinuation that mental health care or, say, suicides would go up under the legislation.
It must be nice to be a liberal journalist as you often don’t have to provide solid evidence or direct cause and effect to make something “fact.”
Back in reality, we’ll turn to our friends at the Daily Signal and their great political editor Bradley Devlin’s May 12 exclusive explaining the changes, which largely consist of reform to prevent illegal immigrants from tapping the system, work requirements (or volunteer or attend school), and bans on transgender surgeries (click “expand”):
According to the document, the Energy and Commerce Committee is looking to require states to add community engagement requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents to receive federal Medicaid assistance. These individuals would be required to work or perform community service for at least 80 hours per month. This community engagement requirement would not apply to individuals under 19 or over 64, pregnant women, among other exempt categories.
One section of the forthcoming legislation blocks federal Medicaid and CHIP funding from going to gender transition procedures for minors. Another, the document outlines, would prevent Medicaid dollars from going to nonprofit organizations that focus on family planning or reproductive services, provide for abortions beyond Hyde Amendment exceptions, and received over $1 million in Medicaid payments last year.
The bill takes particular aim at Medicaid benefits directed toward illegal immigrants. One provision of the forthcoming bill aims to ensure proof of citizenship or requisite immigration status is provided before the state doles out Medicaid care benefits, rather than enrolling such applicants immediately and then waiting for proof of citizenship later. Another provision reduces the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid expansion states that provide health care coverage for illegal immigrants under state-run health programs.
If you or someone you know is in need of help, in crisis, or someone to talk to, call or text 988, which is the Suicide and Crisis hotline.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from June 3, click “expand.”
CBS Evening News Plus
June 3, 2025
7:23 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]JOHN DICKERSON: What happens when help – when the help you need isn’t there? My Reporter’s Notebook is next.
(….)
7:26 p.m. Eastern
DICKERSON: When I started reporting on how Medicaid cuts would affect rural health care, I didn’t expect to hear about young men like Alex Jacobsen. For Alex, Medicaid was a lifeline. His father, David, says it supported the rural Iowa hospital where Alex received mental health care. Usually, the conversation about gaps in rural areas focuses on young women. That’s because so many rural hospitals have stopped helping young mothers. Between 2011 and 2023, 24 percent of the country’s rural hospitals stopped providing obstetric services. But when I talked to midwife Peggy Gautreau in Louisiana about those numbers, she raised another issue, the growing number of men showing up at her clinic for mental health treatment. When care is embedded in a local clinic, when patients don’t have to drive hours or wait in a psychiatric emergency room, they’re more likely to use it. That’s especially true for men, Gautreau said, who often face more stigma when seeking help. If you’re sitting in our waiting room, nobody knows if you’re here for a sore throat or because you couldn’t get out of bed this morning, she said. So, what happens when Medicaid cuts make those services harder to find? That’s what worries Alex’s father, David Jacobsen. He’s seen the system fail. One night, his son called him desperate for help. They waited for hours in the emergency room until a bed opened in Sioux City, more than an hour away. Protocol meant police had to take Alex there in handcuffs. At a recent town hall, Jacobsen’s Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was asked about Medicaid trade-offs. A constituent warned that people will die if they lose coverage.
SENATOR JONI ERNST (R-IA): Well, we all are going to die.
DICKERSON: Yes, we all die, says Jacobsen, whose son Alex died by suicide five years ago. But it’s not about dying, he says. It’s about compassion. It’s about helping the vulnerable while they’re here.
