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Paul Mikell is a 49-year-old resident of Stockbridge, Georgia — a caretaker, a mechanic, a gardener, and a hunter who has spent his life working with his hands. As a maintenance worker for his father’s property, his days are filled with oil changes, tending to the garden, house repairs, and whatever else the land and […]

Maggie Sanchez is a Medicaid beneficiary, a mother of a child with disabilities, and a caregiver for a loved one living with severe mental illness. When she talks about what proposed federal Medicaid cuts would mean, she is not speaking theoretically. Maggie also contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic and has not fully recovered. She has […]

Kathleen Downes is 32 years old and lives on Long Island where she works as a social worker and a board-certified patient advocate. Kathleen was born with cerebral palsy, a lifelong physical disability that affects all four limbs and her motor functions. She uses a wheelchair and needs assistance with every activity of daily living, […]

Hannah Bink never expected to become a care coordinator, benefits navigator, and family mediator all at once. But as her grandparents’ health declined, that is exactly what she became. Her grandparents live in Charleston, South Carolina. Her grandmother, a retired North Carolina state government employee with decades of service, has dementia, has suffered four strokes […]

Nan Macklin is a Community Health Worker in the Bootheel region of Missouri, serving families who rely on Medicaid and Medicare. She works with seniors and small children in one of the poorest counties in the state. Nan explained that between 80-90% of the patients she serves rely on some form of state assistance, “I […]

Dariya Walker is a high school student in Florissant, Missouri. Dariya and her family use Medicaid to access health care services, and she appreciates the peace of mind that having coverage gives her and her family. “It’s good to know that I don’t have to be worried about my health.” Even if an illness or […]

Tina Roath is a 54-year-old woman with five children living in Kansas City, Missouri. She depends on Medicaid to help cover the care she needs. Though not her first time using the program — she previously relied on it for secondary coverage during her pregnancies — she now depends on it to manage a recently […]

Andrea Martin in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, was born with a congenital heart defect. She worked throughout her life, often juggling multiple jobs, until she had a heart attack at 35. “I could no longer work. I lost my job. I lost health insurance. And I had to get on Medicaid. I was denied at first, […]