Brenda

"I first got Medicaid back in 2016, after a freak accident getting off a SEPTA train. I was a clinical therapist for over 30 years, then one day on my way home from work, a ramp failed and I was thrown off the train, causing life-altering nerve damage in my neck, lower back, and legs. When I was first injured, I didn’t know what to do. I was facing over $100,000 in bills for my extended hospital stay. I wasn’t working, so I lost my employer-sponsored insurance. I was confined to my house and unable to do anything for myself in terms of personal care. I couldn’t afford my medications, some of which were $300 to $400 every month.

When I was approved for the Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services waiver program, it paid for my hospital stay, and also a physical therapist to come to my house. It also covered equipment like a walker and wheelchair. It still pays for a home health aide to come and help me with personal care tasks, such as bathing, dressing, using the toilet, personal hygiene, and eating, as well as household chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping. I don’t know what I’d do without this care. I am still largely bed- bound and unable to walk. I’m incontinent of bladder and bowel and often use a bedpan. Without Medicaid, I would probably need to live in a nursing home.

Medicaid is also essential to my 18-year-old son who has Autism. It covers his behavioral health services, incontinence supplies, and an aide to help him with his own personal care, both at home and at school.

Our lives both depend on Medicaid services – we couldn’t live at home without them. We don’t have any family to fall back on – it’s just us. I worked my entire life before I was injured, paying into these programs so they would be there if I ever needed them. My greatest fear is that my son and I would lose these services and end up in a facility."