At just nine years old, Miles is a bright, loving child with a radiant spirit. He is deeply connected to his family—his parents and his younger twin siblings. Miles, who has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, relies on a ventilator, and requires around-the-clock medical care.
For Miles, Medicaid isn’t just a healthcare program, it’s what makes life at home possible. It ensures he can live with his family, attend school, and receive the critical care he needs to survive and thrive, all in his community.
“Miles requires quite a bit of hands-on care. He is not able to do any tasks to take care of himself, so just simple things like brushing his teeth… he requires 24-hour-a-day care,” his mother, Mary Mac, explains.
Medicaid provides essential services and supplies that private insurance doesn’t cover. These services allow his parents to rest at night, knowing that a nurse is monitoring his ventilator, tracking his vital signs, and administering medications. Without this support, Mary Mac and her husband would be awake 24 hours a day, an impossible burden.
But Medicaid does more than provide medical care. It allows Miles to be a child.
He loves school, where he uses a communication device to connect with his teachers and classmates. “School enriches his life so much. He has such a close relationship with his teachers and therapists, and he wouldn’t be able to attend without a nurse to accompany him,” Mary Mac says.
Thanks to Medicaid, Miles can also leave home safely, whether it’s for doctor’s appointments, a trip to the museum, or simply spending time in his community. Medicaid helped his family purchase an accessible van, a necessity for Miles to be able to leave his home.
The thought of losing these services is terrifying for families like Miles’. “Medicaid is what allows Miles to have that hands-on nursing care. It is what allows us to make our home and vehicle accessible for Miles. Those services are what make it possible for Miles to attend school,” Mary Mac says.
If Medicaid funding were cut, the family would face an unthinkable decision: placing Miles in a facility. “We just cannot imagine that for Miles—the utter sadness it would cause him to be ripped away from his family… It would be absolutely devastating.”
Not only would Miles lose the love and support of his home, but his health could suffer dramatically. “With the staffing ratios in facilities, his health could decline severely. These services have kept him healthy and out of the ICU. He’s had just one emergency hospital admission in the past nine years.”
Miles is more than his medical needs. He is a smart, kind, and aware child who deserves to grow up in a loving home. He deserves to learn, to play, and to be with his siblings.
“Medicaid Matters because it allows our son Miles to stay home and grow up with his family. Medicaid Matters because it provides the hands-on nursing care that Miles needs just to live every day,” Mary Mac says.