Anne Marie Schneider lives in Durham, North Carolina, and has spent more than three decades working across nearly every corner of the health care system. She is an occupational therapist with a hand specialty certification and has worked in hospital systems, private clinics and now her own clinic. Over the past 35 years, she has […]
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Heidi Pomerleau, Utah
Heidi Pomerleau has lived in Salt Lake City for twenty years and proudly calls it home. Permanently disabled, Heidi is currently well covered by both Medicaid and Medicare; however, finally getting this coverage required years of navigating systemic barriers to coverage. After decades of navigating the health care system, Heidi has experienced the consequences of […]
Renee Arnold, Pennsylvania
Renee Arnold, a 56-year-old Pennsylvanian, has spent her entire career supporting people with disabilities. She began her work with children with special needs and now supports adults in a group home. Renee also lives with cerebral palsy, a condition she has navigated since birth. Her husband, Matthew, is also disabled. As she describes, he is […]
Amy Barley, Maryland
Amy Barley lives in Maryland and works as a digital marketing professional for the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, where her work directly intersects with her personal experience. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 10, Amy has spent more than three decades managing a chronic condition that requires constant vigilance. Her journey with diabetes has […]
Steve Ramirez, South Carolina
Steve Ramirez describes himself as a nomad. Born in Nebraska, he spent his life moving from state to state for work, living in Texas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and even Beijing before finally settling with his family in South Carolina. Trained as a mechanical engineer and later working as a product manager, Steve built a […]
Lori Lay, North Carolina
Lori Lay and her husband have lived in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where they have spent 30 years in this community raising three children and running two small businesses. Lori owns a childcare center, and her husband runs a landscaping company. Like millions of self-employed families, they rely on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace for […]
Jen S., Arizona
Jen S., a former teacher in Arizona, has always prioritized staying insured and maintaining her health. She grew up with a mother who was a nurse, and for most of her life she had stable employer-sponsored coverage through her teaching job. That stability began to unravel after she left the classroom. Jen had taught in […]
Wayne Riley, Colorado
For two years, Wayne, a 56-year-old living in Colorado with his wife, relied on marketplace insurance to protect their health, and their finances. Their monthly premium of $690 was high but manageable. That all changed when Wayne, a self-employed commercial cleaner, contacted his insurance agent to ask about the upcoming year. Wayne had heard rumors […]
Sara Goodrich, Maine
Sara Goodrich and her husband are both 44 and live in Maine. She works as a massage therapist, and he works as a carpenter. Because they are self-employed, they have relied on the Affordable Care Act for their health coverage for the last decade. She recalled, “We have used Obamacare since its inception really and I can […]
Darlene W., New York
After more than three decades in the classroom, Darlene W. thought she had done everything right. She built a career teaching in a small rural public school in New York State, retired with a pension, and found affordable health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace. For the past two years, she’s relied […]