Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan could harm many of the state's 1.2 million people on Medicaid, but that message has been lost amid protests about collective bargaining rights, patients and advocates said Sunday.

"I'm scared ... I don't want to go to a nursing home," said Barbara Vedder, a Dane County supervisor who was paralyzed in a car crash years ago and relies on Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for the poor, for home care and other services.

Vedder said she was inspired by public employee rallies at the Capitol last week, but "what I found missing was the discussion about (Medicaid)."

She was among about 30 groups representing children, the elderly, people with mental health conditions and others gathered at the Madison Senior Center to voice concerns about Walker's plan.

"I am living comfortably at the moment," said 77-year-old Dee Hambley of Madison. She said SeniorCare, a Medicaid drug program, pays for her expensive medications.

Without the coverage, "it could end up being (a struggle for) survival again for me," she said.