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Valuable Voices,
     Powerful Stories

Valuable Voices,
     Powerful Stories

Improving Consumer Protection, Access, and the Overall Experience

At Families USA, we share a conviction that the people — a patient, consumer, or advocate — should be at the forefront of our mission to achieve improved health and health care for all. Our goal is to bring storytellers like you into the conversation, so policymakers better understand who we are advocating for, and why these changes are so important. You are the voice, the face, and the push behind the policy, and your story matters.

Securing and Expanding Comprehensive Coverage

People in every state deserve access to affordable, equitable, and comprehensive health coverage that meets their needs. But, too many people in America are falling through the cracks in our system, leaving them paying too much for too little care, or not able to afford any insurance at all. Choose a story below to learn more about coverage experiences.
Madison Busch: Bringing Dental Care to Utah’s Most Vulnerable Thanks to Medicaid

Madison works with a mobile dentistry company that primarily serves people who have Medicaid. She explains that the company began serving senior centers where many residents had Medicaid and needed dentures but were unable to leave the facilities. The work expanded and now also provides services to the YMCA, YWCA, substance abuse recovery centers, and homeless shelters.

Read Madison Busch,’s story
Katherine Twomey: Why Medicaid Matters for Mental Health Clinics

Katherine Twomey, a licensed clinical social worker and lifelong Long Islander, has dedicated her entire career to community mental health. Living in New York’s 1st Congressional District, she works as a psychotherapist at a community mental health clinic where she and her colleagues serve patients with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Nearly all of their patients rely on Medicaid.

Read Katherine’s story
Charlie Kulander: Cancer, Caregiving and the Lifeline of the ACA

Charlie Kulander credits the ACA with stabilizing his life during his family’s most challenging years. “It allowed me to get my life back. We were in the midst of putting kids through college, all the expenses of a family. If I didn't have the Affordable Care Act, more than likely, my kids wouldn't have gone to college, and we would have been forced to declare bankruptcy. I owe my present life in a lot of ways to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.”

Read Charlie Kulander,’s story
More Securing and Expanding Comprehensive Coverage Stories

Supporting Health and Economic Security and Justice

Everyone in America should have the opportunity to live their healthiest life no matter who we are, where we are from, or where we live. Our current health care system does not make improved health for all its primary focus, particularly for Black and brown communities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and other historically oppressed groups. Choose a story below to learn more about health equity experiences.
Tomeka James: A Mother’s Story of Loss, Survival, and Advocacy for Maternal Care

In 2017, Tomeka James Isaac was pregnant with her first and only son, Jace. At 40 years old, she was told early on that she would be at high risk for pre-eclampsia, yet despite this ominous warning, Tomeka’s pregnancy was progressing smoothly. Until, at her 35-week appointment, complications began.

Read Tomeka’s story
Kea Dupree: Honoring the Whole Person: Kea’s Birth Experience

Kea had a plan. Pregnant with her first child, she knew she wanted a natural birth, and she wanted her birth experience to be an experience that was unique to her. However, she felt dismissed by doctors when she made requests, and ignored at appointments. Kea switched to a birth center, and everything changed for the better.

Read Kea’s story
Tamara Hamilton: Challenges of COVID-19 Testing Criteria

Tamara's 18 month old grandson fell ill with a slight cough and signs mirroring COVID-19, but was not tested by his pediatrician. After his oxygen levels dropped, he was taken to the ER but was still not tested for COVID-19 due to not meeting testing criteria.

Read Tamara’s story

Advancing Affordability and High Value Care

As a nation, we spend over $4 trillion each year on health care, but our health and health care are not improving. More than half of Americans are worried about affording health care and a third are forced to choose between paying the rent check or the grocery bill, and their medical bills. We deserve better, higher-quality health care. Choose a story below to learn more health care value experiences.
May: Facing the High Cost of Lifesaving Medication

May, a young woman from the Midwest, was diagnosed with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism and prescribed costly blood thinners to prevent another clot. Even with good employer-sponsored insurance, she faced staggering out-of-pocket costs—hundreds of dollars a month—for medication she needed to survive.

Read May,’s story
Cassenda Nelson: A Mother's Sacrifices to Care for Her Daughter

Cassenda Nelson lives in Camilla, a rural community in southwest Georgia, where health care is limited and resources are hard to come by. She’s a mother of four, a community health worker, and the full-time caregiver to her daughter Amunet, who lives with type 2 diabetes and experiences seizures.

Read Cassenda’s story
Jennifer Blumenthal: How Barriers to Medication Put Lives at Risk

For years, 55-year-old Jennifer Blumenthal of New Jersey, has lived with Type 1.5 diabetes. Managing her condition depends on two prescriptions, Novolog and Jardiance. Without them, her health and life are at risk.

Read Jennifer Blumenthal,’s story