Alabama
ACS Storybook | July 10, 2019 | Written: Sandy worked her whole life. But when she ripped the tendons in her back, she realized the years of hard work had taken a toll on her body, and after her back injury she had several other health conditions that worsened. After five hospital visits in one year, she knew she needed a higher level of support. Fortunately, she found Mercy LIFE of Alabama, a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) that combines funding from Medicaid and Medicare to provide comprehensive care to low-income older adults. “If not for Mercy LIFE and Medicaid, I’d be dead. I know that,” said Sandy. Thanks to Medicaid and the care she has been able to receive, Sandy hasn’t been back to the hospital once.
Alaska
Providence | April 2, 2020 | Written: There’s not much Jackie wouldn’t do for her mom Irene. When Irene’s chronic illnesses became worse and she couldn’t afford the growing medical bills, Jackie jumped in to help. “I could be in debt to help her and that’s OK, as long as I could still see my mom alive … for life is precious and we do our best to sustain that special gift,” says Jackie, who helped pay her mom’s medical bills for a while before costs overwhelmed the family budget. Fortunately, Denali Care, Alaska’s Medicaid program, broadened eligibility in the fall of 2015, allowing Irene to qualify for coverage. “I had prayed for Medicaid,” says Jackie. “I can’t tell you how thankful we were for Mom to have it,” she says. Today, Irene feels better, and her complex health conditions largely are under control. “Health care is a basic right. Someone who is healthier and has an improved life … this also improves the community.”
Arizona
USA Today | February 28, 2025 | Written: Janae Stevenson was on the hunt for her first “big girl job” when her symptoms hit in 2021. Months after graduating from Arizona State University, she began suffering bouts of severe stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting. Doctors said she needed her gallbladder removed, a surgery that cost thousands of dollars. Her family’s insurance only covered around 20% of the procedure and without Arizona’s Medicaid program, Stevenson said she and her parents, who work in education and social work, would have struggled to afford the emergency expense. The program, she said, helped her heal enough to find her first job and get her own private health insurance. “Cuts to Medicaid won’t just harm my family and won’t just harm our communities in the present,” said Stevenson, who now works in advocacy at the National Domestic Workers Alliance. “These make it so that people like me wouldn’t be able to receive a surgery that they might need.”
California
KFF | March 6, 2025 | Written: Cynthia Williams is furious with U.S. House Republicans willing to slash Medicaid, the government-run insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities.This story also ran on The Orange County Register. It can be republished for free. The 61-year-old Anaheim resident cares for her adult daughter, who is blind, and for her sister, a military veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, pays Williams to care for them, and she relies on that income, just as her sister and daughter depend on her. “Let’s be real. We shouldn’t have to be here tonight,” Williams told a raucous standing-room crowd of over 200 people at a recent town hall. “We should be home, spending time with our loved ones and our families, but we’re here. And we’re here to fight, because when politicians try to take away our health care, we don’t have the option to sit back and let it happen.”
KFF | March, 6 2025 | Written: Josephine Rios, a certified nursing assistant at a Kaiser Permanente surgical center in Irvine, said her 7-year-old grandson, Elijah, has received indispensable treatments through Medi-Cal, including a $5,000-a-month medication that controls his seizures, which can be life-threatening. Elijah, who has cerebral palsy, is among the more than 50% of California children covered by Medi-Cal. “To cut Medicaid, Medi-Cal, that’s like saying he can’t live. He can’t thrive. He’s going to lie in bed and do nothing,” Rios said. “Who are they to judge who lives and who doesn’t?”
Delaware
Delaware Online | March 13,2025 | Written: Danielle Drainer recalled the hospital bill she received after her son, Charlie, spent a month in the intensive care unit due to unexplained blood clots. Even with private insurance through her job, the Dover mom said she faced a $200,000 bill. “Medicaid picked that up,” she said. Without it, she added, “we would still be in debt.” Now, Drainer and thousands of Delaware residents may lose that safety net. For Drainer, the debate isn’t just about budgets or politics; it’s about keeping her son healthy. Medical specialists diagnosed Charlie with antiphospholipid syndrome. To treat his recurring blood clots, Charlie, now 11, “will be on blood thinners for the rest of his life,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Medicaid, we would not be able to afford them at all.”
Delaware Online | March 13, 2025 | Written: For Nancy Lemus, another Dover mother, Medicaid is a particularly critical lifeline. Her 19-year-old son, Christopher Garcia, has complex medical needs requiring a tracheostomy tube, ventilator, feeding pump, oxygen and 35 different medications administered every two hours. His formula alone costs $300 a day. All of it is covered through a Medicaid waiver program called the Children’s Community Alternative Disability Program. Lemus works multiple jobs to structure her schedule around Christopher’s care, filling in when skilled nurses aren’t available. She said even if she could physically care for her son at home, the looming cuts would make it impossible to afford the medical equipment that keeps her son alive.
Florida
MMA Stories | Sept. 8, 2020 | Written: Sherolyn Tramel has been able to maintain her health and well-being into her retirement years with help from the affordable, high-quality preventive and integrated care delivered through her Medicaid coverage. When she does experience health problems, Sherolyn knows that she is able to get the essential care and services she requires — like her monthly cholesterol prescription or a recent visit to the osteopath for a knee issue — at a price she can afford. “My Medicaid coverage provides me with peace of mind and better coverage than I’ve had in the past,” she reflected. Sherolyn is especially grateful for Medicaid as an American 65+ living in the COVID-19 crisis. But she worries about proposed cuts to state Medicaid programs, explaining “Cutting Medicaid amid the pandemic is unspeakable, especially for those like me, who need the coverage most.”
Georgia
ACS Storybook | July 10, 2019 | Written: Anne lived in pain for nearly twenty years before Medicaid brought her relief. When she was 38, she began experiencing severe knee pain. The pain left her unable to keep up with her job as a delivery manager, but her insurance policy denied her request for knee replacement surgery. Eventually the pain was so unbearable she had to quit her job. After leaving her job, Anne started a pet-sitting business but couldn’t afford to buy insurance and her knee pain steadily worsened, making it difficult to get around and keeping her up at night. After years of pain, Anne applied for Medicaid and qualified for coverage. “If it wasn’t for Medicaid, I don’t know where I’d be,” Anne said. “I feel like a productive member of society again. The program gave me back my life.”
ASC Storybook | July 10, 2019 | Written: In 2005, Flecia was working full-time as a massage therapist. At the time she was healthy and covered by a private health insurance plan. That December, Flecia was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer. She quickly found out that not only would it be impossible for her to pay her $10,000 deductible, but many of the medications and treatments she would need to fight her cancer diagnosis would not be covered by her insurance plan. So, Flecia applied for Medicaid and gained eligibility through the state’s breast and cervical cancer treatment program. She is beyond grateful for the health care coverage and cancer treatment care that Medicaid offered: “If it hadn’t been for Medicaid, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Idaho
Reclaim Idaho | 2021 | Film: In February, John Barnes testified before the Idaho Legislature. He asked lawmakers to oppose a Medicaid reform bill that some said would’ve probably repealed Medicaid expansion. “I may not be here if not for the passing of Medicaid expansion,” Barnes told the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee. Medicaid covers “medication I need to survive,” he told lawmakers. Many of the men who live in the sober house he lives in also use Medicaid to access medications that “literally keep them off the streets, and out of the justice system,” he said. Without his Medicaid expansion insurance policy, he told documentarians — echoing what he told lawmakers — “I would probably have been dead a long time ago.” Barnes has lived in a sober house for two years, receiving substance abuse treatment covered by Medicaid.
Illinois
MMA Stories | January 18,2023 | Video: For Charnell, Medicaid’s transportation program has been beneficial in helping her not only get to her medical appointments but also get crucial in home medical care. “I’ve taken advantage of home in-house physical therapy, in house occupational therapy, which is great for people who have trouble getting out.”
MMA Stories | January 18,2023 | Video: Charnell shares how Medicaid helped her mother – a single mom – support her and her siblings. Later on when Charnell became a single mother as well, she was able to use Medicaid to care for her son who also had his own health challenges. Medicaid also made sure Charnell was able to access therapy and mental health services.
Iowa
MMA Stories | January 18, 2025 | Video: Medicaid’s Managed Care programs are crucial to Americans across the country. MaryAnne describes the program as “an incredible change and help in her life.” After receiving a cancer diagnosis, she thought her life was over. Medicaid allowed her to focus on healing and her mental health rather than stressing over bills and other costs of living.
Kentucky
KFF | February 25, 2025 | Audio: “I never took insurance from where I was employed at because it was always so expensive. By the time they would take out the money, there wasn’t much of a check. So, I was basically gonna be paying for insurance, which I know a lot of people have to do. I went a while without anything, so Medicaid’s been really great as far as helping me out with doctor appointments, used to help me out with dental. I used it a little bit for mental therapy when I lost my daughter unexpectedly. So, it’s been good.” – 61-year-old, White female
MMA Stories | February 15, 2018 | Video: Medicaid is a lifeline for individuals suffering from chronic illnesses. For Keith, Medicaid helped to provide treatment and healthcare to combat Hepatitis C. His improved healthcare enabled him to be a better father, employee and overall participant in his community. “It was lifesaving for me. It also helped me feel more like a human being who deserved to be able to live and thrive,” he said.
Washington Post | March 16,2025 | Written: Candice Fee isn’t sure who’s right in the debate over the future of Medicaid: the Republican president whose party says it will leave federal health funding intact as it seeks to slice billions in government spending or the Democrats who warn that the broad cuts the president has promised can’t happen without carving into one of the government’s most costly programs. But if Medicaid is axed, Fee knows exactly what will happen to the life she has pieced back together after decades of addiction. “If it were to go away today, I would be homeless tomorrow. I would lose everything. All my counseling, all my treatment. I would absolutely be homeless tomorrow,” said Fee, 42, who has lived in Harlan all her life, most of it spent in a cycle of addiction and rehabilitation. A Medicaid-funded treatment program she entered last year has her feeling, for the first time, optimistic about not living a life dominated by substance abuse. “I am stepping out onto my own, getting my house with my kids sooner or later. But if I lost [Medicaid-funded treatment] today, I would lose my job, I would lose everything that I’ve worked so hard to rebuild over the last year,” said Fee, who can’t vote because she has a felony conviction, but is not a supporter of President Donald Trump. “I couldn’t be more happy with my life today. I’m at peace. I’m just grateful. But I absolutely am worried about my future, because I’m not sure how it’s going to go if Medicaid is gone. If you remove all that back, then am I simply going to go push play on my old life again?”
Louisiana
ACS Storybook | July 10, 2019 | Written: Jennifer is the project coordinator for Partners in Wellness, a cancer screening program in Shreveport. Before Medicaid expansion, the majority of the patients screened by Partners in Wellness were uninsured. Most lived in rural areas where jobs with health insurance benefits were, and still are, difficult to find. If they received a test result that required follow-up, some patients couldn’t get the treatments and care they needed. “Since expansion, about 90 percent of the patients we see are covered by Medicaid. Most of these people never had insurance before. Once they realize that their Medicaid coverage gives them choices, we can start to educate them on how to handle their cancer diagnosis or chronic illness,” Jennifer said.
NBC News | March 12, 2025 | Written: Pastor Leroy McClelland, who lives in Johnson’s southwestern Louisiana district and volunteers at a local food bank, said he is dependent on Medicaid and food stamps after having suffered several medical issues and would be in a serious “bind” without government assistance. He added that he’s far from alone in those struggles. “People can’t do without it,” McClelland told NBC News outside the food bank. “So I would tell them [Congress] to help us out. Help us. People are hurting out here. And you may be from Louisiana, but you’re the House speaker. Cross the aisle. Work together to do whatever you got to do. That’s my message.”
NBC News | March 12, 2025 | Written: Summer Stinson, a mother of four who was picking up food for her family as well as an elderly woman who can’t drive, said the prospect of cuts to social safety net programs has been weighing heavily on her mind. “My children are on Medicaid. So yes, I do. I do fear that very much, and they make it to where insurance isn’t really affordable with our companies,” said Stinson, a native of Vinton. “I don’t know what we would do without it.”
NBC News | March 12, 2025 | Written: One of the residents who drove to the food bank Tuesday morning was Dwayne Dousay of Lake Charles. He is a retired environmental microbiologist and the primary caregiver for his adult-age disabled grandson, who receives Medicaid and other forms of government assistance from the state. He also warned that taking a hatchet to social safety net programs would be devastating for his family and the community. “I don’t know what we would do without them. I really don’t. It’s been tough,” Dousay said.
Montana
New York Times | Feb. 25,2025 | Written: Among those who qualified for Medicaid under the expansion was Jeannie Brown, a 60-year-old part-time bus driver for the public school system in Belgrade, Mont….Ms. Brown, who makes around $25,000 each year, had been trapped in the so-called coverage gap, with a salary too high for Medicaid, and too low for a heavily subsidized Obamacare plan. After Montana lawmakers voted in 2015 to take up the Affordable Care Act’s option to expand Medicaid to cover more adults, Ms. Brown enrolled. She began to see a primary care doctor, and Medicaid paid for hand surgeries, knee replacements, a double mastectomy and her inhaler, she said. “If I didn’t have the preventative care I needed, I’d be in a much worse place physically. I’d probably be disabled.”
New Jersey
The Village Green | March 3, 2025 | Written: Clients of JESPY House in South Orange — which provides services and housing to adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) — joined U.S. Senator Cory Booker at University Hospital in Newark on March 3 to rally against proposed cuts to Medicaid. “Without Medicaid, my life would be over,” said JESPY House client Debbi D. “The support I receive from JESPY House—funded through Medicaid—allows me to live independently, manage my health, and participate in meaningful activities. Losing Medicaid would devastate me and many others like me.”
New Mexico
NPWF | July 28, 2023 | Written: [As a kid] Medicaid helped me discover that I loved reading because I no longer got a headache from straining my eyes. New Mexico’s generous Medicaid program serves thousands of families like mine in innumerable ways. Medicaid covers a variety of oral health and dental services in New Mexico ensuring I could get my braces in middle school and get a root canal in college. Medicaid helped empower me to focus on my education, no matter what happened to my health–and emergencies, infections, and injuries did happen, but I was no worse off because I had accessible, affordable, and comprehensive health coverage. – James Campbell
Ohio
KFF | February 25, 2025 | Audio: “I think obviously, not having access to healthcare, or having to have the financial ability to pay for your medical needs, your basic medical needs, is something that we shouldn’t have to worry about because we worry about how we’re going to eat. We worry about how we’re gonna pay our bills… Not having Medicaid would be, not distressful, it would be detrimental because I need to see a primary care doctor, I need to see my specialist.” – 58 year-old female
Oklahoma
KFF | February 25, 2025 | Written: “For me it would, it would probably lead to death, and that’s kinda harshly speaking, but it’s the way that it would be. I’ve relied upon Medicaid for myself in order to survive. For my son, it would be survivable, but it would be difficult. He has real bad allergies, he wouldn’t be able to hear.”
Oregon
Providence | November 6, 2018 | Written: It’s hard to put a price on your eyesight, but to Robin, 67, it’s the best gift she’s ever received. Thanks to Medicaid, she was able to get cataract surgery on both eyes and was no longer at risk of losing her vision. Medicaid did more than help Robin save her vision – it meant she could get her life back on track. From age 62 to 65, Robin relied on Medicaid, which covered her general health care and preventive needs. But her primary worry was cataracts and her failing eyesight. “I lived in dread of not being able to drive,” she says. Fortunately for Robin, Medicaid covered the costs of cataract surgery in both eyes – for which she is profoundly grateful. “After I had the cataracts removed, my world opened up again,” she says.
South Carolina
News 19 | March 3, 2025 | Written: The federal government covers around 70% of South Carolina’s Medicaid costs each year. Under some of the proposed cuts, the state could be short billions of dollars in funding, meaning lawmakers would have to find money elsewhere or reduce some services. Samantha Youmans, who has been in a wheelchair for three years, relies on Medicaid to pay for services like an at-home caretaker and prescriptions. “In the past three years after everything happened to me, to go from not being able to lift my head to being able to be at where I’m at now, without my Medicaid services, I don’t think I’d be where I am right now,” Youmans said. She said her caretaker helps her with daily activities, including getting out of bed, maintaining hygiene, and making it to doctor’s appointments.
Texas
Washington Post | March 9, 2025 | Written: Jaylee Williams needed to find somewhere to deliver her son. The 19-year-old knew more about barrel racing on her horse Bet-n-pep than the complicated metrics of who takes what health insurance. But relief for Williams and her boyfriend, Xander Lopez, came when they realized Medina Regional Hospital — just 15 minutes from their home — accepted Medicaid, the federal-state program that covers medical costs for lower-income Americans. Provider groups an hour away in San Antonio had refused to take the insurance, she recalled while cradling little Ryker. “You never know when something could happen,” Williams said, with Lopez adding, “I have no idea where we would have gone” without Medina Regional Hospital. But the lifeline that the 25-bed critical-access hospital offered to Williams and Lopez could disappear in Hondo and other communities like it.
MMA Stories | January 18, 2023 | Video: “If Medicaid Managed Care was not available to me, I would be in a nursing home. And if I had gone into a nursing home, I would have been depressed…I would not have lasted very long.” For Gene, Medicaid was the key to retaining his independence and prolonging a fulfilled and healthy life. “Medicaid allowed me to thrive,” he said.
MMA Stories | January 18, 2023 | Video: Gene has been on Medicaid for nearly half a century, since 1972. For individuals like Gene, the Medicaid managed care program has been critical to his health and wellbeing. “I broke my neck when I was 17 years old. I was in a family of 9. I required the use of an electric wheelchair and then I needed a manual wheelchair as well, and some other equipment. My family would not have been able to afford that equipment if it had not been for Medicaid,” Gene stated.
Utah
Center for Children & Families | July 2011 | Written: Monica of Salt Lake City, Utah had a nagging feeling that something was wrong with her infant, but her pediatrician kept reassuring her that she was developing fine. Then, at seven months, the diagnosis came– microcephaly and cerebellar hypoplasia. Now, at age five, Katelyn has some delays, doesn’t walk or talk, but she is making progress toward those milestones. Monica had to cut back on work to provide care for Katelyn. She is fortunate to have private health insurance for herself and her daughter. However, the cost-sharing for the special therapies that Katelyn needs have exceeded her ability to pay and at times she has struggled with hundreds of dollars of unpaid health care bills. Luckily, Monica was able to enroll Katelyn in Medicaid through Utah’s Medically Needy program, because the amount she would be spending for cost-sharing would bring her income below the level to qualify for Medicaid. In addition to help with cost-sharing, Medicaid also fills in where private insurance doesn’t do the job. Without Medicaid as a source of coverage or as a supplement to make coverage more affordable, many families like Monica and Katelyn would face financial ruin.
Virginia
ACS Storybook | July 10, 2019 | Written: Gloria has struggled for a long time with her health. She was born with a heart murmur, blood pressure issues, constant bronchitis and was recently diagnosed with glaucoma and cataracts that are getting worse. For years she relied upon emergency care at a hospital because she was uninsured and wasn’t able to access the medications or care she needed to manage her conditions. But when Virginia expanded its Medicaid program, Gloria was able to get the care she needed. She finally had access to the blood pressure medications and inhalers that could keep her out of the hospital. And now that she has Medicaid, she can treat her eye conditions. “Because of Medicaid, I’ll be able to have surgery and see again,” she said.
Wisconsin
Newsbreak | February 27, 2025 | Written: Those at the gathering on Wednesday shared personal stories of how Medicaid has affected their lives, including Mimi Gerner, whose son receives Medicaid. “It has been a huge help to us in our life providing him with therapies and covering the cost of that,” she says. “He may have not been able to receive those therapies without it.” Gerner says she’s worried about what the cuts will mean for people in her community. “It’s heartbreaking to see how many people are going to be affected,” she says. “In the end, it’s people that are affected and not just money.”
Racine County Eye | March 3, 2025 | Written: Marilyn Holbus stood outside Congressman Bryan Steil’s Racine office on March 3, gripping a handwritten letter. Her 70-year-old brother, David Kemen, has a developmental disability and relies on Medicaid for assisted living, prescriptions, and medical care. She worries that new federal budget caps could impact Medicaid-supported programs, leaving families like hers with fewer healthcare options. Holbus, who has spent years advocating for her brother’s care, described the moment as “deeply unsettling” because of the uncertainty ahead. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. Will Medicaid be there next year? Will his services be cut? I can’t get clear answers,” she said.
Wisconsin Public Radio | March 17, 2025 | Written: Kim Frederick’s teenage son has Down syndrome and has relied on Medicaid-funded services throughout his life. Without the extra support programs, the Mindoro resident said her son’s world “gets much smaller.” “We would lose access to programs that get him in the community,” Frederick said. “We would lose access to future job opportunities for him. He could lose access to being more included in school because if the school loses [Medicaid] funding, they don’t have the aids for him.” Frederick was one of several La Crosse-area residents who spoke at a “Hands Off Medicaid” event held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Monday.
Wisconsin Public Radio | March 17, 2025 | Written: Dana Horstman from Bangor, who uses the IRIS program for people with disabilities, pushed back on the idea that there is abuse or fraud within the Medicaid system. Horstman, who suffered a spinal cord injury over a decade ago, said Medicaid services were critical for her ability to return to the workforce. She receives help with personal care and transportation. Horstman said there’s no public transportation from her rural community into La Crosse. “It’s just really important that this not be cut,” Horstman said. “I love working. I feel like I’m a member of society, I’m giving back to my community, and I don’t want to lose that.”
National
In Due Season | 2024 | Film: “We know cancer outcomes are significantly tied to health coverage status,” said Dr. Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, ACS CAN Board Chair. “By refusing to expand Medicaid and denying residents access to lifesaving care, lawmakers are putting lives on the line – and the numbers are clear, these lives are disproportionately Black lives.” In states that have yet to expand Medicaid, there are more than 2 million people in the health insurance coverage gap, 60% of whom are Black. “Seeing other people without insurance, it does something to me. Because I know how it feels when you can’t go to that doctor – when you can’t even go to the hospital.” – Pamela Williams