Ms. Smith Goes to Sacramento

I’ve watched the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington too many times because I’m definitely a sucker for inspirational stories about “ordinary” people entering and influencing the corridors of power.

That’s why I – and so many others – were moved by the experience of California MomsRising.org member Anjie. As she reported in her blog posting (http://www.momsrising.org/node/824) she shared her story of relying on Medi-Cal coverage for her daughter when she was seriously ill with California lawmakers and the media. Thankfully, Anjie’s story is not movie-material dramatic but it caught lawmaker’s attention because it’s real. Unfortunately, her experience of relying on coverage isn’t unique.

Anjie’s experience motivated other MomsRising.org members to share their experiences with Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families program in California. We’ve collected these stories and pictures of kids covered, here: http://events.momsrising.org/california_stories/reports/4645

The stories have a common theme – coverage for kids is critical to maintaining healthy families.

My daughter, Josephine is 6 years old and until just this year was on the affordable Healthy Families program. I am so grateful to the program for providing her with excellent health coverage because she was hospitalized due to asthma and I don't know how we would have been able to afford her hospital care and medications otherwise. – Rachel

I'm a single mom and a student, and without Medi-Cal, my daughter would not have health coverage. She's been very sick these past few weeks, so I'm glad I have the coverage to be able to take her in to the doctor at times like this.
– Rebekah

Medical saved my daughter's life! My daughter Ellie was born with reflux. Seemingly innocent, a condition that many children have and outgrow. But Ellie was different. She would choke, and turn blue and had pneumonia by the time she was 10 days old and would become dehydrated from not being able to keep anything down. Without the Medi-Cal, I would never have been able to afford a feeding pump and the cost of the formulas, and I attribute this program and our hard work to saving her life. – Amber

If Anjie’s experience teaches us one thing, it’s that one story really can make a difference. Share your story today by clicking here: http://events.momsrising.org/california_stories/reports/new