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Jodi Whites, 37, talks with her daughter Amelia, 3, outside their home in New Braunfels, on July 27, 2023. “Sometimes people will tell me ‘Oh, she doesn’t look sick’,” said Whites. “I tell them, ‘We paid extra for that’. No, really, this is what four years of Medicaid does for us. If we skip services for too long, the greater the chance she will relapse.”

“Scared out of my mind”: A family scrambles after their disabled 3-year-old loses Medicaid

When Texas started scrubbing people from Medicaid after a three-year pause on removals during the pandemic, one family lost the insurance coverage that helped provide all treatments for their medically complex child.


Jodi Whites, 37, grabs oxygen tanks that she used for her daughter Amelia, 3, while her other daughters Avery, 13, and Ali, 14 months, play in their home in New Braunfels, on July 27, 2023. Whites said that the portable oxygen tanks were essential to keeping her Amelia's oxygen levels normal before major surgeries, when her heart issues were at their worst. Without Medicaid coverage, the family had to return the medical equipment to the Pediatric company who owned the gear.
Jodi Whites shows the gastrostomy tube that her daughter Amelia uses to eat, in it's storage space in their fridge at their home in New Braunfels, on July 27, 2023.
Avery Whites, 13, checks on her sister Amelia, 3, during lunch by looking at the machine and gastrostomy tube that she uses to eat, at their home in New Braunfels, on July 27, 2023.

The Whites’ Medicaid history

Amelia Whites, 3, plays with bubbles at her home in New Braunfels, on July 27, 2023. Whites, who has heart and neurological issues and uses a gastrostomy tube to eat, is one of thousands of Texas children who lost coverage under Medicaid in the recent months.

Losing “another mother” 

Jodi Whites and her daughter, Amelia, sit together after lunch in their home in New Braunfels, on July 27, 2023. “Sometimes people will tell me ‘Oh, she doesn’t look sick’,” said Whites. “I tell them, ‘We paid extra for that’. No, really, this is what four years of Medicaid does for us. If we skip services for too long, the greater the chance she will relapse.”

A “tiny tornado” 


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