Michele Steepleton never imagined she’d see her older sister Susan on the brink of losing everything including her life. But when Susan, now 60, lost her job during the pandemic, it triggered a health crisis that spiraled quickly and dangerously out of control. “She had been managing rheumatoid arthritis since her twenties and then later […]
Heidi Riley, a retired financial services professional from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, has watched her brother’s life change dramatically due to serious illness, and she has seen firsthand how Medicaid has played a critical role in keeping him alive. Her brother, a retired self-employed business owner, lives alone in Jackson and has multiple chronic conditions, […]
Hannah Johnson lives in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, in Representative Rob Bresnahan, Jr.’s district. She relies on Medicaid to care for her physical and mental health while working hard to support her community. Hannah works for a local nonprofit to raise awareness about mental health. She also holds a job with a local business, interacting with […]
Rachel Peace, a 32-year-old small business owner and her 36-year-old sister Brittany, both born and raised at the Jersey Shore, rely on Medicaid to meet their health care needs. Rachel and her four-year-old son are enrolled in New Jersey FamilyCare, while Brittany receives coverage through Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security Disability. Brittany faces serious mental health […]
Frank Ogrodowski a 35-year-old of Brick, New Jersey, helps care for his younger sister Jenna, a 27-year-old living with Down syndrome. From birth, Jenna has faced extraordinary challenges, including a hole in her heart that required five open heart surgeries before she was even two years old. Her heart remains fragile, and her care requires […]
Melinda Magdalene Wings is a retired hospice nurse who knows the value of compassionate care. Today, she’s advocating not for her patients, but for her own parents, Ivan and Kay both 86 years old, who live in a care facility in Newton, Iowa, the town where they were born and raised. “They’ve been in love […]
Dr. Eileen Conti, an ophthalmologist who resides and practices in New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District, represented by Congressman Tom Kean, has spent years serving patients others often turn away. At her ophthalmology practice, which she runs alongside her husband, Dr. Conti became one of the only specialists in the region to accept Medicaid patients—offering them […]
Neva Allen a resident of Belfast, Maine, has lived with a neurological condition that weakens her legs for the last 27 years. Now 65, Neva’s condition causes extreme fatigue and pain and forces her to use a power chair. “You see me laying,” she shared while conducting her interview from her bed, “this is the […]
Adam Koresh, a student at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, comes from the small rural town of Elkader in northeast Iowa with an estimated population of only 1,200. Like many Iowans, Adam relies on Medicaid for health care coverage while pursuing his degree to become a teacher. But now, the future of […]
Wendy Andersen is a proud mother of three children, two of whom have disabilities. Her son Dexter, now a teenager, was diagnosed as an infant with tuberous sclerosis a rare genetic condition that causes tumors throughout the body, including the brain and heart. The diagnosis came after a terrifying weekend in the hospital where doctors […]