Amanda Gershon: Life, Liberty, and the Right to Health Care

For most of her adult life, Amanda Gershon, a lifetime resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, and a restaurant manager, was uninsured. That all changed in 2016, when a serious health crisis forced her to apply for disability at just 32 years old.

Amanda lives with several complex health conditions. “I currently have a long list of health conditions that are autoimmune related. My situation is so difficult that nobody has been able to pick apart the individual conditions. I have mixed connective tissue disorder, as best as they can call it. I have fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, endometriosis, pelvic floor congestion, pelvic floor dysfunction. I had ischemic colitis at thirty-six, two-thirds of my colon died. I spent an entire night flatlining in the ER and was told I had six months to a year to live, but was able to fight back. I have Raynaud’s so bad that it helped cause my heart attack at thirty-six, which happened out of nowhere. I have the opposite of diabetes, my body produces too much insulin. So instead of my sugars going high, they go low. There’s no real treatment for it. I just have to do lifestyle adjustments.”

She was able to get on disability without much trouble in 2016, but it took nine months for her to get Medicaid coverage. “Unfortunately, it was a little bit too long, and I had a long way back,” she shared, “Medicaid was there to pick me up. Give me that opportunity.” Over the last decade, Amanda transitioned from her job in the restaurant industry to community work and advocacy work as a volunteer, still adamant on being a productive member of society.

Even before receiving benefits, Amanda was advocating for Medicaid access. “I began advocating for Medicaid expansion in Nebraska before I ended up on disability…I felt it was a really important thing so I continued to advocate and was honored to co-sponsor the ballot initiative in Nebraska.”

“Medicaid expansion is important to me because so many people in this country can’t afford health care. And it covers a specific low-income population that typically isn’t able to afford the health care they need to live quality, longer lives.”

Amanda knows firsthand what earlier access could have meant for her. “There’s a lot of life decisions I wouldn’t have had to make, prioritizing my health care over my dreams and goals. At this point, because I went without health care so long, my health is very fragile, because a lot of my conditions just had to go untreated. Prioritizing what I could afford and what was most needed at the time, not the whole picture. Earlier intervention leads to better outcomes in almost every health situation.”

Since gaining Medicaid coverage, Amanda’s care has changed dramatically. “Since I was able to get Medicaid, my doctor who saw me uninsured was finally able to run all of the different tests I’ve needed. I’ve had many different procedures, therapies, medications. A long list of opportunities to better my health and give me a quality of life that I enjoy again…Without Medicaid, I know I wouldn’t have survived many times over. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have access to the health care I needed at the time to work past the problems to be able to function again and be part of my community.”

She sees the value of Medicaid not just in her life, but throughout her community. “Since Medicaid expansion happened, I have been able to hear many personal stories from people in my own community whose lives have been made better by access to that health care.”

Her message to lawmakers is clear: “To those that are considering cutting Medicaid, health and the quality of your life are not entitlements. They are guaranteed in our Constitution, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Since I’ve gotten health care, I have been able to enjoy my life so much more. Losing the ability to work was hard, but being able to be in my community, serving the people that I grew up with, has meant more to me than anything I’ve ever done in my life. I wouldn’t have had that opportunity if Medicaid wouldn’t have been there for me to work hard to pick my health back up. It’s not just me. There are so many people in the community that have the same story.”