Erica Manns: A Family’s Story of Medicaid in Action

Erica Manns, a 43-year-old Adean women living in the Millard area of Omaha, knows firsthand the critical role Medicaid plays in a family’s ability to survive and thrive. As a mother, student, and working professional with degrees in human resources, marketing, dental assisting, community health, nursing, and program management, Erica has managed a demanding life while navigating serious health challenges—both her own and those of her children. Through it all, Medicaid has been a lifeline.

Erica has relied on Medicaid throughout different points in her life, with her most recent period of coverage lasting two to three years. She spoke directly to the realities many families face. “I can’t afford to take them to the doctor,” she said. “The job doesn’t offer medical, or the job can’t afford to even offer employees medical.” For her, Medicaid has meant the difference between being able to care for her children or having no access to health care at all.

Her children have complex medical needs. Several were born with active airway disease, which affects their breathing and requires regular, specialized treatment. “They had breathing issues, and Medicaid has helped them with their care,” Erica explained. “With nebulizer machines, inhalers, being able to go to the hospital and needing to stay in the hospital because of their breathing issues.” Medicaid also covered multiple eye surgeries and ongoing vision care.

Because of the severity of their conditions, her children often needed specialists from a very young age. “It seems that when they were born, my children couldn’t just see a regular doctor…they had to see a specialist for everything,” she said. Without health coverage, Erica would not have been able to access that level of care.

She recalls a frightening incident when one of her sons was hospitalized after an infection developed from improperly treated stitches. “Medicaid was able to help him get the help that he needed… get the surgery that he had needed to clean out the infection,” she said. That care, like so much of her family’s treatment, would have been financially out of reach otherwise.

Medicaid has also been essential for Erica’s own health. She lives with chronic migraines that disrupt her ability to function and care for her family. “The medication that the Medicaid pays for and for me to be able to see my doctor to maintain my daily life activities… I wouldn’t be able to do it without the Medicaid,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything.”

Erica also manages glaucoma, high blood pressure, and an irregular heartbeat, conditions that require frequent exams and medication. Medicaid makes it possible for her to receive the routine care and prescriptions she needs to remain stable. “Without Medicaid, I wouldn’t be healthy,” she said. “I wouldn’t even have the prevention medications or the management medications that I need to take daily.”

Erica warns lawmakers of the consequences if Medicaid were to be reduced or limited, especially for children. “Children get sick. Children are in daycares and schools, and they need to be able to have that Medicaid if they need it to be able to get well so they can have education and move on in life.” She added that this applies to everyone, “How do you expect someone to get far in life if they can’t take care of themselves?”