The United States healthcare and budget reform could result in reduced Medicaid funding to those in dire need: specifically, scaling down this funding could limit services that help the elderly, the poor, and the disabled live to their fullest potential.

This striking opinion piece from The New York Times delves into the painful history of people with disabilities in pre-war Germany and how the Nazis’ terrifying view of the disabled as “unfit” to live led to unimaginable suffering and death in that population. This piece is a difficult but necessary reminder of what people are capable of believing. The writer reminds us that acknowledging this history will help us avoid repeating mistakes.