Lacey Donle lives in Lisbon, Maine and works in early childhood education as a preschool teacher. When she first shared her story in 2025, she had recently left a job with employer coverage for less stress and a better childcare situation for her children, and she had been enrolled in Marketplace coverage for a year. […]
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Jeff Schledewitz, Nebraska
Jeff has spent his life in Scottsbluff, in western Nebraska. He built a career in management, running auto sales departments, before neuropathy forced him into early retirement. “Due to my neuropathy, I had to retire earlier than I wanted to. And with that, of course, I lost my insurance, and that’s why we’re here,” he […]
Lisa Long, Florida
Lisa Long is 61 years old, an independent worker who has always run her own business, teaching movement and doing communications work across health, wellness and educational platforms. She buys her own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, sharing, “I’m in that gap time period where I’m still working, but I don’t qualify […]
Tamira Moon, Georgia
47-year-old Tamira Moon served as the director of health equity and diversity initiatives for the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials, an organization funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On July 31, 2025, that work ended when, as she put it, “our entire team was reduced in workforce.” A single woman living in […]
Carry Smith, Georgia
Carry Smith, a 42-year-old from the Savannah area of Georgia, spent years as a competitive distance runner. While she has lost count of how many races she’s competed in, her mom will tell you she ran 17 full marathons and 10 half marathons, plus countless 5Ks and 3Ks. She was a voter advocate, a community […]
Steve Reyes, Florida
61-year-old Steve Reyes lives in Broward County, Florida, where he works in aircraft sales. He first got involved in the health care fight when he answered an email from Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office asking to talk about the issue, because his premium had “shot through the roof.” He went to a meeting with other […]
Jacklyn Parker, Nebraska
39-year-old Jacklyn Parker grew up in Omaha and after training at Nebraska Methodist College she spent five years working as a phlebotomist at Nebraska Medicine, work she loved. After three back surgeries made inpatient phlebotomy too difficult to continue, she left the field. “I took a leap of faith and got into insurance, left phlebotomy, […]
Lynn Weidner, Pennsylvania
Lynn Weidner is a home care worker in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is 43 years old, and at any given moment, she is likely doing the work of three people. During the day, she cares for her two-year-old niece. Simultaneously, she manages her mother’s medications, doctor’s appointments, and daily needs — her mother lives with them […]
Susan Alleman, Nebraska
Susan Alleman is a 57-year-old resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, who spent most of her adult life uninsured and hoping for the best. Raised in New Orleans, she earned a master’s degree in mental health counseling before finding her true calling in social justice and anti-war advocacy, spending 25 years working for a peace and justice […]
Mariah Plante, West Virginia
Mariah Plante works full time in rural Wyoming County, West Virginia, while serving as the primary caregiver for her older brother, Matt. Matt is legally blind, has nonverbal autism, and needs help with nearly every aspect of daily life. For Mariah, Medicaid is not an abstract government program. It is the reason her brother gets […]