Every Monday, Medicaid recipients or those unfairly excluded from Medicaid are posting on social media to briefly share their story about why Medicaid is important to them and or why it’s important to expand Medicaid to all residents.
This is part of Put People First! PA’s Medicaid Cut-offs Organizing Drive. The Social Media Campaign began on April 3 and will continue throughout the 2023 Organizing Drive. This week we had five new posts!
Share your story! For a more in depth guide on how to participate see here: bit.ly/MedicaidMondaysGuide
Take a selfie and your story to the post. Please use the hashtags #Medicaid4All and #NoMedicaidCutsPA
+ Make the invisible visible
+ Change the narrative by changing the narrator
+ You are not alone!
#MedicaidMondays
Jamie Blair from the Put People First! PA Southeast PA regional Healthcare Rights Committee shares her Medicaid Monday’s Story! “Working in construction, Ive had private insurance through Pennie, the Pennsylvania marketplace, for the past 5 years. Every month I watch money disappear from my checking account to pay high monthly premiums while my healthcare needs go unmet.I’m fortunate enough to be pretty healthy, but when I get sick I wait and hope it passes because I’m worried about out of pocket costs and my high deductible. I’m one of the nearly 4 in 10 Americans who put off care because of cost.When I found out basic preventive gyno care was covered, I decided to break that pattern and book an appointment. They found irregular cells and I had to have a LEEP procedure to take care of what could be early signs of cervical cancer. It was a scary situation to find myself in, but fortunately, the procedure was largely covered by my plan and I could feel good about stopping something bad before it got worse. The following year, I had to return for the same treatment only to discover that this time, the care was not covered! I suddenly owed hundreds of dollars. Private insurance plans are able to pick and choose what they cover year to year, leaving those seeking care in a game of chance. Do I risk another year without care or do I act preventatively and cross my fingers that I won’t go home with bills higher than my rent?Right now, 1.2 million people in PA are being thrown off of Medicaid and told to get a marketplace plan. It’s just not that simple when you’re hit with high monthly premiums and then if you go to actually use the care, co-pays, astronomical deductibles, and untold out of pocket expenses. Medical debt is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy and homelessness, and that’s why we need Medicaid for all” – Jamie Blair
Vinnie Giannini of the Put People First! PA South Central PA regional Healthcare Rights Committee shares his Medicaid Monday’s Story!!!!”We shouldn’t have to sacrifice all our funds that we work hard for, just to simply survive in this system. We shouldn’t be paying it out to healthcare profiteers who just profit off our pain and suffering. I think about what my grandmother went through when she needed a root canal that costs thousands of dollars that she couldn’t afford, luckily she was able to get the work done at a charity that happens one weekend out of the year called Mission of Mercy, but she shouldn’t have had to wait to get that care and neither should anyone else. A charity event one weekend out of the year will not solve our dental healthcare crisis! That’s why we are demanding to reinstate the adult dental benefit that was cut in 2011 and expand Medicaid to ALL Pennsylvania residents!” – Vinnie Giannini
“I have Medicaid and at 37 was given dentures. Well I lost my teeth. Medicaid will only pay for one set of dentures a life time. Now I am stuck with coming up with $2,952 for another set. I’m on SSI!!! Figure that!” -Esther Crook, NEPA
Sefi Schiller from the Put People First! PA South East Healthcare Rights Committee shares her Medicaid Monday’s Story! Her story shows why we should push back against the narrative and actions from power holders that use “eligibility” requirements as justification to cut people from their healthcare! We need Medicaid for ALL! “My children are 18 months apart. The first was born under Medicaid my second was born under private insurance. I had my first child while on Medicaid. We didn’t have to pay premiums or co-pays and the birth was free. My husband got a raise that pushed us right above the income requirement to be on Medicaid. I then became pregnant with my second child. We were struggling to pay the premiums and on top of that had to pay co-pays for all the OB appointments. Giving birth to my second child under private insurance cost $2,500. We did not have the money but the hospital knew exactly which charities would help us. We still had to pay $500 which we had to do on a payment plan. That shows how much charities supplement private insurance and for-profit hospitals. People should not have to struggle to just pay premiums and then get stuck with a bill to give birth. Healthcare is a human right!” -Sefi Schiller