THIS TIME ON CODE WACK!
While not perfect, Medicaid has served as a lifeline for millions of impoverished Americans, including Jennifer Wells and her mother, who suffered a brain aneurysm years ago. But that lifeline will soon be taken away. Jennifer joins us to talk about the expected ramifications of Trump’s H.R. 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.
She’s the director of economic justice at Community Change Action , where she leads the organization’s work to advance policies and practices that improve the material conditions of low-income communities. Over recent years, she has earned recognition as the 2020 Marshall University Commencement Speaker, 2020 TEDx Speaker, and 2018 National Association of Social Workers West Virginia Chapter’s Social Worker of the Year. This is the first of two episodes with Jennifer Wells.
Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!
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SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
Tell us about yourself – how did you get interested in economic justice?
Wells: “So I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I hold that not only as a badge of honor, a point of pride, but New Orleans to me is almost like a family member.
“. . . I am deeply connected to the south and all that that means. But because of the human and natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, my life was then transitioned into a new place where I kind of stuck. Not only began my professional career as a social worker, but also where I began to set my roots as an organizer.
All the expertise that I have gained as an organizer in this field building power was to go back to the south and utilize it there. ’cause That’s where my heart is.
“And so I live in Montgomery, Alabama, which was the closest I could get to New Orleans financially, as crazy as that may seem. But the aftermath of Katrina is such that those of us who are native, like my family has 300 years of roots set in Louisiana on the River Road into New Orleans.
“The idea that I cannot relocate back to my home is just another sign of how systems are, in some cases broken, but in some cases are functioning [as] they’re meant to and keeping folks that are marginalized or in vulnerable communities out. And that’s kind of also the story of my healthcare, my family’s healthcare and how my health, my mom’s health are a part of the reason why I’m in this work today. Those stories, both my own personal and my family’s stories around healthcare are in part why I’m in this work today.”
Tell us about when you and your family needed to rely on Medicaid, public health insurance for lower income people?
Wells: So my mom is a single mom. She raised me and my brother for, I would say all of our lives. She was, at one point, a union worker …
“… She worked for the phone company, she was a union operator, and how our health journeys tended to diverge [was] once she lost that work and she became reliant on Medicaid, me and my brother were relying on Medicaid, as we were growing up.
“What that meant for us is we had access to care. Not always the best care, but at least there were opportunities to see a doctor. . .
“. . . But the thing that really marks my life, the healthcare story of my personal life, my personal witnessing, was my mom in 1995 having a brain aneurysm and how she had that aneurysm is high blood pressure.
“Of course a high blood pressure that is caused by stress. Being a single mom is very stressful. Being a Black woman in the South is very stressful. Not having access to preventative care, even though we were on Medicaid, my mom choosing to, at times, go uninsured when the administrative burden of keeping her Medicaid was a bit too much.
“And then also sometimes forgoing care because the cost outta pocket without insurance was far too much to carry. She wanted to invest more in my brother and my education, our wellbeing. You know, I’m sure there were times where she chose food over her own wellbeing. . . .”
And when she suffered an aneurysm, what happened?
Wells: “… she had a really traumatic medical experience. And what then transpired was, I am 20, perhaps 21, and I’m in the emergency room with my mother who is [saying] that she cannot see because of her aneurysm, the blood actually flowed over her eyes. That’s how we knew it was time to go to the hospital, was when she said,’ Jen, I can’t see. Let’s go to the hospital.’
“We took a cab to Charity Hospital. We lived in a decent neighborhood. We lived in a house in what was deemed uptown New Orleans. And so the idea of the ambulance not coming to our house was never a question. But the cost and how it would set us back was a question.
“So we went to Charity Hospital, which is a public hospital. My mother walked in and immediately began vomiting green, which is now I know bile. And usually the sign of death. She was at least taken back immediately once she started vomiting to the emergency room where she could be cared for. But what would transpire over the next 15 to 18 hours was … she wasn’t treated while she was there …
“They didn’t even give her comfort care because when they would allow me back to see her, I would ask her about her pain, which she was in tremendous pain. And she’s like, ‘It’s not easing. I still can’t see.’ And I’m like, ‘Mom, what tests have they run on you?’ ‘None.’ ‘Where have they brought you?’ ‘Nowhere.’ ‘What are they saying?’ ‘Nothing.’ And so I was well aware as a young Black woman that this was the care. This is the racialized disparities of how we are treated in the healthcare system.
“ … around 5:00 AM and the doctor said, ‘Is there anyone else in your family? …I would get them and bring them, basically to say goodbye. It was the hardest experience I’ve ever had … going home to retrieve my then 15-year-old brother.
“The miracle of miracles, the tenacity and resilience of my mom’s own body and her biology was that when I brought him back to the hospital, my mom was sitting up in her bed. She was being seen by specialists at that time. They said she had what would later be deemed one of the best, you can call it the best brain aneurysms to happen to someone. However it broke, the vessel basically bled out. They didn’t really see a need for them to do a brain operation, which I found out was great for her and her survival.
“But leave it to say that they anticipated her dying so they didn’t treat her.”
“… there are things about Medicaid that I wish were better. I think there are things about Medicaid that I could always say I wish were better. But I also am fully aware that the reason that my mom is still here is because of the Medicaid that she receives.”
Helpful Links
‘I took home with me.’ Thousands settled elsewhere after Katrina hit New Orleans, USA Today
New VCU-led research shows how stress from racism influences disparities in heart health, Virginia Commonwealth University
Lifetime of stress takes toll on cardiovascular health of Black Americans, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research
When Can a Hospital Legally Refuse Care?, Legal Clarity
Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions, KFF
The Politics Holding Back Medicaid Expansion in Some Southern States, KFF
Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is deadly to already vulnerable groups across the U.S., Prism Reports
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Guest Biographies: Jennifer Wells
Jennifer Wells is the Director of Economic Justice at Community Change/Action, where she leads the organization’s work to advance policies and practices that improve the material conditions of low-income communities.
Over recent years, she has earned recognition as the 2020 Marshall University Commencement Speaker, 2020 TEDx Speaker, and 2018 National Association of Social Workers West Virginia Chapter’s Social Worker of the Year. She has provided commentary and been featured on National platforms like Essence, USA Today, Vox, and the Insider.
Jennifer was born and raised in New Orleans and deeply understands the social and economic issues that impact our communities. She is available to speak on health equity issues, including access to healthcare, Medicaid, birth justice, and their impacts on Black people living in rural and urban areas.
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