Advocates and community members alike gathered at the Arkansas Education Association last week to share stories of their personal experiences with the Medicaid program. The event, hosted by Arkansas Community Organizations and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, worked to highlight the impact of Medicaid in Arkansas communities through stories of lived experience.
Among the storytellers was Maya Gobara, a Little Rock resident who gave birth to twin boys at just 25 weeks. Although Maya credits Medicaid with saving her children’s lives, she also voiced frustrations with her own Medicaid coverage. For example, her type of Medicaid coverage changed — without her knowledge — shortly after the birth of her twins. As a result, she had to get new referrals for urgent gallbladder surgery that had already been scheduled and approved, delaying this critical surgery. Currently, she is uninsured. During the event, Maya shared, “I am thankful for Medicaid doing everything it can for my babies. I would like to be here to be able to take care of them, to be able to advocate for them, and the only way I can really do that in a healthy state is if I had insurance, and right now I just don’t.” Maya has seen the impact of the Medicaid program when it works and has also seen how life-changing it can be when it doesn’t.
Other community members who served on the storytelling panel and spoke on behalf of the program were three members of Arkansas Community Organizations — Valencia White, Brooke Hale, and Norma Huffman — along with Dion Bax, Production Manager at Brandon House Cultural and Performing Arts Center. Dion spoke about his connection to the Medicaid program, both professionally and personally. In his role at Brandon House, Dion collected and edited videos of Arkansans sharing their stories as part of Arkansas Advocates’ “Medicaid Minute” storytelling series. “After editing those stories, there’s two things I’ve always heard each person say. The first one is Medicaid is a frustrating process. The second thing is Medicaid has changed my life, or changed my child’s life, or changed my family’s life.” Dion also spoke about the impact of the program on his own child’s life. Medicaid covered more than $80,000 of life-changing surgeries when his son contracted meningitis at a young age. “I’m happy to stand here to say that it [Medicaid] changed our lives for the better.”
The Medicaid Town Hall also provided an opportunity for members of the audience to share their Medicaid experiences publicly and bring leaders into the conversation about insurance coverage and care in our state. Amplifying voices of those most affected by the program works toward ensuring that Medicaid continues to provide essential health care services to Arkansas families.
If you missed the Medicaid Town Hall, there will be future opportunities for you to learn about the important role Medicaid plays in our state. Over the past year, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, along with partner organizations Arkansas Community Organizations, Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, have collected stories on the impact of the Medicaid program in Arkansas communities. As we approach the 2025 legislative session, Arkansas Advocates will begin rolling out these “Medicaid Minute” videos, which detail the Medicaid experiences of Arkansans from across the state. In addition to this series, we will hold advocacy trainings in the new year, helping people to take their lived experience and turn them into advocacy. These trainings will take place on January 25 in Little Rock, and on February 15 in Springdale.
Read more about the town hall, visit the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s coverage of the event here: Arkansas Online
Register for Little Rock Advocacy and Storytelling 101: https://www.aradvocates.org/events/advocacy-and-storytelling-101-little-rock/
Register for Springdale Advocacy and Storytelling 101: https://www.aradvocates.org/events/advocacy-and-storytelling-101-springdale/