MomsRising volunteers meeting with Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and Medicaid/CHIP Champion
On February 24th MomsRising volunteers and their kids went to Capitol Hill to deliver YOUR stories on Medicaid and meet with Senators and their staff to discuss the importance of Medicaid for families around the country. Along with the storybooks we delivered adorable rubber duckies….because Medicaid keeps families afloat!
Medicaid is a critical support for families, especially those of us who are caring for children, have aging parents, or have family members with disabilities. Overall, Medicaid provides health coverage for approximately 68 million people, including 1 in 3 children, low-income pregnant women, children and adults with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and the elderly (including 70% of all nursing home residents).
We have heard rumors from some members of Congress that they have plans to make major changes to the program that would eventually lead to people being kicked off and left without this important healthcare. As a preemptive strike we wanted to deliver your stories to key Senators to let them know how important Medicaid is to millions of families.
Stories from moms like Helene from Richmond, Virginia who writes, “December 2009 I gave birth to my son Nils. 3 weeks later he ended up at the ER as he could suddenly not breath—he had to stay at PICU for 4 months. Nils was diagnosed with a rare disease called Kasaback-Merrit Phonomena, he had a tumor on his neck! If we had not gotten help with Medicaid, I don’t know what we would have done.”
And Mary Ann from Libertyville, Illinois who writes, “My mother is on Medicaid in a state-run nursing home. She is completely immobile, has numerous chronic illnesses and needs 24 hour skilled care. Without Medicaid, my 75 year-old father would be completely unable to care for her, nor could he (or his family) ever afford to hire 24 hour care for my mother. I am grateful every single say that Medicaid is available and my mother can be in a safe environment.”
We met with Senator Wyden (Oregon) and his staff, as well as the staff of Senator Warner (Virginia) and Senator Bennet (Colorado).
To see more pictures from this event, check out our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152605942046610.1073741898.8321461609&type=3
Have you or someone you love benefited from the Medicaid program? Than MomsRising would love to hear from you. You can share your story here: https://www.momsrising.org/member_stories/topic/share-your-medicaid-story-with-momsrising/
Related Posts
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.
MomsRising.org strongly encourages our readers to post comments in response to blog posts. We value diversity of opinions and perspectives. Our goals for this space are to be educational, thought-provoking, and respectful. So we actively moderate comments and we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that undermine these goals. Thanks!