Fired army veteran who worked in disaster recovery feels 'betrayed' and abandoned by Trump purge

An army veteran who is one of tens of thousands of workers fired from their jobs at the federal government feels abandoned and worries about his family’s health insurance, he told NPR in a report published Monday. The firing was part of the Trump administration’s purge of employees as part of an attempt to shrink the federal government.

Mike Macans was terminated two weeks ago from his position as a disaster recovery coordinator at the Small Business Administration in Anchorage, Alaska. He has not been able to get information he needs, like the documents to file for unemployment or the knowledge of when his family’s health insurance will end.

"I've never felt more betrayed in my entire life," Macans told NPR.

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“Don't abandon and villainize the very people that have served this country and work to bring services to our citizens," he said.

“Now jobless, Macans' top concern is health insurance. His wife, a cancer survivor, needs costly medications to keep her autoimmune disorder under control. The couple have a 5-month-old and a toddler,” writes NPR correspondent Andrea Hsu.

"Just the disregard for the impact that this has, on not only the employee but his whole family, is astounding," Lara Macans, his wife, told NPR.

In his job, Macans provided help to communities in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho after disasters. "Alaska has every possible disaster threat you could think of, from volcanoes to hurricane to tsunami, earthquake, fire, flood — you name it," he said.

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Macans was shocked when he learned he was fired. In his last evaluation, he was told he was “an exceptional asset to the Agency.”

"We had talked like — this is going to be your career. You're going to retire from this job," Lara Macans said. "That was really exciting."

After he was fired, Macans heard conflicting information. He got an email that the firing email was sent in error. Then, he received two emails saying he was indeed fired. "That is literally the last official correspondence regarding my employment status that I received from the SBA," he said. "There's absolutely no follow up." He added, "Because they fired me and then unfired me, I immediately started forwarding everything I could to my personal email.”

Now, Macans is looking to the future. "You know, family of four. We need a paycheck coming in, and we need health care," he said. "When it really comes down to it, I'll do whatever I need to do for them."

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