Medicaid patients share their stories

Laura Carroll once thought it was impossible for her to get pregnant, but then she found herself with a newborn son who needed emergency abdominal surgery. Another curveball came when her husband, Jed, was disabled after a car accident. All of this was covered by Medicaid. Her son is now in school and Jed can take short walks.

“One thing happens, and then it snowballs,” she said. “If it weren’t for Colorado’s Medicaid program, our health—our family—would have fallen apart.”

Laura’s story is one of many on “That’s Medicaid,” an online platform produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to tell personal stories highlighting the critical role the government program plays.

“Health insurance coverage is a vital part of helping people maintain good health, which in turn helps our nation thrive socially and economically,” said Anne Weiss, managing director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a public-health philanthropy.

Other stories include LaVerne Jackson, a mother who was covered by Medicaid while in nursing school. She’d later enlist in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, where she served as a captain. Retired from the military, Jackson earned a master’s and a doctorate and now promotes community health with consulting and ministry work.

“Medicaid opened the door for my education and propelled me into lifelong service for our country,” she said.