Please tell us how you, your family or your community has benefited from Medicaid coverage for dental care, vision care, and transportation assistance: All of these things are important to the health and well-being of the poorest residents of our state for reasons that shouldn’t even NEED an explanation. But, in particular, dental care is critical for everyone to maintain good health. There is indisputable evidence that lack of dental care leads to heart disease, and KY is already one of the worst states in the nation in terms of deaths due to heart disease.

Please tell us how eliminating these benefits would affect you, your family, or your community: No one in my immediate family is unfortunate enough to rely on Medicaid benefits, but a couple of my extended family members do (including my almost 90-year-old uncle who can’t drive anymore and my ex-husband, who is disabled due to severe scoliosis since childhood that required him to have metal rods inserted into his spine at the age of 15 and multiple surgeries over the years since). Also, I have worked extensively in Eastern KY, where nearly everyone lives well below poverty level. Losing these benefits will be devastating to the most vulnerable residents of our state.