Nearly two years ago, Mr. Rocky, a 57 year old male was hospitalized for pneumonia and was placed on a ventilator. He requires total care in all his life activities. He then transferred to a nursing facility for a year and a half. Although Mr. Rocky was blessed with a supportive family who visited frequently, as the days grew into months and years, Mr. Rocky missed waking up with his family around him and longed to return home.

Huck was involved in an accident and paralysed of his legs, uses a wheelchair. Due to his lengthy hospitalizations, his house was foreclosed. Going Home Plus assisted him with completing and submitting applications for affordable and accessible housing. With the support of his financial institution, housing agency and health plan, he was able to move into an affordable one-bedroom unit and has become an integral participant in his neighborhood community.

Aloha! my name is Momi Kawai and I would like to share my personal experience with you while I was under Medicaid. I was diagnosed with breast Cancer April of 2014. I had just recently moved to the Hawaii Island and was planning on going back to school. I had no job and no medical insurance, because of my income status; I was eligible for Medicaid. I was able to complete 7 months of Chemo and 7 weeks of radiation, not to mention that my Insurance covered all services and Medication. I will forever be grateful for such a blessing to have had Med-Quest. Currently, I am working my way back to a healthy lifestyle and getting back on my feet. I currently work for a non-profit (Arc of Hilo) which allows me to go into my community to educate and advocate the importance of having Health Insurance.

Medicaid has been a blessing to my family. My elderly parents are in their late 80's & early 90's and they outlived their nest-egg to be able to pay for exorbitant long term monthly care costs. My mother has Alzheimer's and is in a foster home under the care of very qualified care givers. Without the assistance of Medicaid, family members would have had to make financial and career sacrifices to help care for my Mom. While the effort would have been valiant, we are not skilled to manage a person w/a mental disability. We managed while the disease was in its early stages, but as it progressed, we found that we were not equipped emotionally or trained to care for my Mom as we believe a care-giver would. Now, with Medicaid assistance, we have experts that are excellent at what they do and they take great care of my Mom. With our elders living a much longer life, Medicaid provides the much needed financial assistance required to be able to receive the care they need to sustain their quality of life.

Aloha! Having Medicaid gave me the support I needed as a first time mother, giving me the resources and medical attention I needed to have a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. Medicaid continues to be a blessing to our new family ensuring that we have our medical needs met so that we can thrive. People should know that Medicaid members are doing the best they can to make ends meet. And Medicaid is one of the most important resources we have.

Nearly two years ago, Mr. Rocky, a 57 year old male was hospitalized for pneumonia and was placed on a ventilator. He requires total care in all his life activities. He then transferred to a nursing facility for a year and a half. Although Mr. Rocky was blessed with a supportive family who visited frequently, as the days grew into months and years, Mr. Rocky missed waking up with his family around him and longed to return home.