Marcia cares for her adult son who is disabled, and wants to be able to go back to work so she can keep the bills paid and also give her son the care he needs. She currently can’t afford treatments for diabetes, asthma and some of the other health conditions that start to come with getting older.
When Marcia's three children were growing up, she worked hard at night because she couldn't afford child care. After losing her job, she now can't afford to see a doctor to fix the ailments that cost her her job.
Kristi's digestive problems make it a struggle to eat. She also has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which hurts her ligaments and tendons, making it even a struggle to get around the house she shares with her son.
A former nurse, Kristi had to stop working when the pain from her healthy conditions became too much to bear.
Right now, 77,000 Nebraskans can’t get health coverage because they don’t qualify for Medicaid and can’t afford private insurance
After working as an interpreter for the U.S. Army, Elias feared his family would be the targets of violence. So he, his wife and their two young children moved to Nebraska from their home in Iraq and are not part of Lincoln's Yazidi refugee community.
His AmeriCorps volunteer position does not provide insurance and does not pay enough for him to afford private coverage for himself and his wife. Elias is healthy but his wife has health problems that require costly medications.
As the result of post spousal abuse, Denise suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which has left her unable to work consistently. She currently receives Medicaid through what's called a "spend down," which means to qualify for insurance, she has to spend so much of her income on medical needs that she doesn't have much money left at the end of the month for food and other essentials.
Lincoln resident Paulette Jones receives Social Security Retirement, but these benefits do not provide her with medical assistance. After her other basic needs are met, she has no money leftover to put toward health insurance. Despite this, she doesn’t qualify for Medicaid, but she also doesn’t make enough money to qualify for subsidies in the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Paulette suffers from chronic neck and shoulder pain and has trouble sleeping at night. Some nights, she doesn’t get any sleep at all. A doctor at a community health center strongly urged Paulette to undergo a sleep study and get an MRI in order to figure out what was causing her pain and sleep difficulties. Unfortunately, she can’t afford these tests. Health insurance would also help Paulette better manage her hypertension. Although a local clinic is helping Paulette some, there are some medications she must pay for herself.
Tracy and her husband are part of the thousands of hard-working farmers and ranchers who make up the backbone of Nebraska's economy. However, they can't afford health insurance, which is particularly dangerous with the physical demands of a ranch. Being uninsured is a problem that hits rural Nebraska hard. A higher percentage of Nebraskans in rural areas don't get coverage through their jobs or are self-employed.
"I thought I broke my arm last week working cattle," Tracy said. "I knew I couldn't even afford to see the doctor, let alone treat it. Luckily, it is healing. We can't afford to be without it in the line of work but can't afford the insurance rates either."