Medicaid
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. 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."
Patty Kidder lives in Springvale, Maine, and has spent her entire life struggling to afford health care. Medicaid helps Patty pay for her drug plan, including the premium and prescription costs. “I think my copay is like $4.90 for a prescription that would normally cost several hundred,” she said. “It is lifesaving. Without that benefit, lots of people are going to die or become very, very ill. And that includes my family, myself, my husband, people I care about, people we all care about.”
Mellissa Ely, known to many as Missy, is a 51-year-old woman from Lincoln, Nebraska, a mom to two boys and a grandmother to four grandkids. She is also a registered Republican, a supporter of Donald Trump, and has been navigating the health care system for years with the help of Medicaid expansion. 
In Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Theresa Luoni is raising 12-year-old twin boys with autism. Her life revolves around ensuring they have the care, therapies and opportunities they need—not just to survive, but to thrive. For Theresa, Medicaid is more than a policy or a program. It is what allows her to care for her children and give them a future.
At 31 years old, Ray, a father of five from Michigan, is working hard to raise a young family while managing the pressures of everyday life. Until recently, Medicaid was something he hadn’t thought deeply about. His wife, Autumn, handled the paperwork to make sure their kids had coverage. But as he began reflecting more seriously on his faith, and his role as a father and husband, he realized how critical that support truly is.
Steven Leaton works hard to provide for his wife and two daughters. But with a life-threatening heart condition and a child with complex medical needs, he can’t do it alone. Medicaid helps him stay healthy enough to work and gives his daughter the care she needs to stay safe.
River didn’t plan on becoming a single parent, but when her son was born, everything changed. Medicaid became the lifeline that allowed her to care for both his health and her own. Without it, she says, she wouldn’t be able to keep going or build the future they both deserve.
Every week, Shaun, who lives with multiple disabilities, works at a law firm, volunteers at the library, and helps out at local events. He has built a life filled with purpose and connection. Medicaid provides the support that makes it all possible.
Mary Beth Koniarski lives in Lawrence Valley, Pennsylvania, with her husband and their adult son, Adam. For more than a decade, they have shared not just a home but the daily challenges and triumphs that come with living alongside serious mental illness. And through it all, Medicaid has been the lifeline that has helped keep their family together. 
A former musician, now President of the Resident Council at Complete Care Nursing Home in Brick, NJ, Louis Bonilla is a passionate advocate for Medicaid and Medicare after the programs saved his life.