Siiri Cressey: An Invisible Disability, a Disappearing Safety Net

Siiri Cressey lives in Lewiston, Maine, where she has spent her entire life. “I’ve been a Mainer my whole life, born and raised here,” she said. Currently living with a long-term disability, Siiri receives health coverage through MaineCare, which includes both Medicaid and Medicare benefits.

Siiri emphasized the importance of this coverage. “If that got cut off for me, I would have no health insurance,” she said. “I take several medicines daily, one of them twice a day. And those help to keep me sane and able to function.” Without coverage, she said, “I would not be able to afford them.”

Siiri manages a psychiatric disability that impacts her everyday life, an “invisible disability” as she calls it.  When asked about the impact of work reporting requirements being proposed at the federal level, Siiri shared her concern. “That’s a frightening thought,” she said. “Because who would that be up to? I think that should be up to someone who knows me well, who has a psychiatric background. And it doesn’t sound like those would be the people who decide.”

Siiri says said her ability to work depends on the day and on the nature of the tasks. “I could probably pass an initial and very brief examination of ‘Are you able to work?’ Well, yes. Am I able to work enough to hold down a job that would pay for my very minimal living expenses for long enough? Well, no.”

Her mother, who had fibromyalgia, cancer, and arthritis, once said, “I might be able to get hired, but what employer would want to hire someone who may not know if they will be able to come into work on Thursday?”

If Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act were gutted and she lost her coverage, Siiri said she would be unable to afford private health insurance or pay out of pocket. “I don’t think I would be able to afford to do either,” she said. In addition to psychiatric medications, she takes estrogen following a hysterectomy, and medications for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. “That would go away,” she said. “My cholesterol and my blood pressure would go dangerously high.”

She also receives therapy online once a month and sees a provider for medication management. “I wouldn’t be able to see her anymore,” she said. “Or I’d have to pay out of pocket.” Losing access to those medications would be devastating. “I would become the scatterbrained, massively depressed mayor of Crazy Town,” she said.

Siiri also spoke about how policy changes could affect other Mainers. Her best friend, she said, lives with health conditions and would likely not survive without care. “She’s got multiple problems that affect her immune system. So it can be, you know, wake up and nope, today is a nope day,” Siiri said. “She’d probably die.”

When asked what she would say to her member of Congress, Siiri responded, “Why are you making things harder for people who already have it kind of hard?” She added, “I grew up poor in Maine. And I’m relatively poor now. It’s already hard enough.”

She pointed out that most people who receive assistance like Social Security, food stamps, housing assistance, Medicare, and Medicaid are children, elderly people, or people with disabilities. She pushed back on the stereotypes often used to justify cuts to these services. “Where they get this image of people living off the government cheese… wearing furs and diamonds and paying for their penthouse apartments with HUD checks—I don’t know where they drum up this fantasy. It’s a fantasy.”

Siiri closed with a clear statement: “Health care is a human right. Hands off my Medicaid.”