Rachel Russell

“I believe a lot in system change. I want to be a part of that change, so being involved in the community, showing up for school board meetings, engaging with local electeds — civic engagement — is important to me.”

Rachel Russell is passionate about many things in her community and beyond. She understands the social determinants of health and education. Her lived experiences have provided her insight and expertise to help develop community-directed solutions for inequities in housing, education, and sexual and gender issues.

As a parent, Russell was involved in her local PTA before serving on the Kansas City, Kan., school board. “I’m passionate about students helping us determine what 21st-century learning will look like, about student and parent engagement.”

She’s also a “community servant.” Before working full-time, Russell was an AmeriCorps member in Kansas for two-and-a-half years.

“Volunteerism and community service are important to me,” she said. “I wholeheartedly think it makes us better community members — but also keeps us proximate to community issues.” 

She knows housing issues in her bones.

“I could talk about housing in my sleep. The entire spectrum, from homelessness to folks who are housed in their own homes but struggling to pay taxes — there’s a whole continuum there,” she said. 

And as a supporter of persons representing sexual and gender minority groups, she believes in equity and inclusion, in “just making sure that people belong — that’s something that can get me fired up any day,” she said.

Medicaid

These days, issues around Medicaid are central in her life. Kansas is among only 10 states that have not expanded the program, meaning that young adults previously covered by KanCare must apply for health insurance through a long, complicated application process as soon as they hit age 19.

The issue first showed up for Russell herself, who was a teenage mom without a full-time job. She didn’t understand the system, and applying for Medicaid was a long process. 

Then, as an adult, she faced it again when her daughter rolled off the Medicaid plan for children and had to navigate the health insurance system’s online open enrollment page.

“There’s no off ramp,” she said. “Just like, on your 19th birthday, you no longer have coverage. I’m surprised there’s no sliding scale for that 19-24 range. That’s crazy to me. We just automatically think that a 19-year-old has some access to care, and, unfortunately, that’s not true.” 

Russell’s daughter — and likely other 19-year-olds — had two bad scenarios: she could go through the marketplace and pay about $400 a month for coverage, or she could go through her mother’s premium at work, but that would be so expensive she would spend a majority of her Pell grant and school loans on insurance alone. Never mind tuition, books or other supplies those funds are intended for. 

“What’s made it harder is that every time she goes to the doctor or needs emergency or urgent-care services, we have to pay for that out of pocket,” Russell said. “Yes, there’s gratitude that we’re able to do it, but it reduces a rainy-day fund every time she has a life-altering event that requires access and care because she doesn’t have insurance.”

A majority of Kansans support and have advocated for expansion for more than a decade. But even its passage would add only 150,000 people to the program.

“Having long-winded arguments still won’t make the system right,” Russell said. “It’s a small win.”

And her family is a best-case scenario.

“I am an excellent example of a person who does everything right — I am a working parent, civically engaged, working my job, doing all these things — but it still doesn’t support us,” she said.

Russell’s daughter also checks all the right boxes.

“She works at a job in a public-school setting. She is going to school herself. She’s never committed a crime. She doesn’t have any barriers that would prevent her from accessing health insurance,” Russell noted. “It’s just the cost. Healthcare is expensive, and even having access to those services is expensive, so my message to Kansas elected officials and decision-makers is that healthcare is out of reach for young adults, and they need to do something about it. Change the process or policy — or just expand Medicaid!”

Help and Hope

Russell has learned that she is not alone in this journey.

“Even though this started off as a unique experience for my daughter, there are hundreds of thousands of other young adults in this state who don’t have access to Medicaid because of its limits. It’s a reminder that we have to continue to advocate for a change in policy.”

Persistence on this issue has helped.

“At some point, we’re going to find a solution. I continue to be hopeful that Kansas will expand Medicaid.”

To get there, she said, means commitment — from the community, from local leaders and from government in all forms — to ensure “that all folks thrive regardless of what it costs to get there.”

Individual Kansans are not helpless. Russell advised people to advocate for young adults by showing up at Medicaid hearings. 

“Make sure we are moving the needle on economic prosperity — meaning folks can afford to live where they live, can afford access to healthcare, and can afford to eat,” she said. And that means “holding businesses accountable for how much they pay their employees.”

Russell urged people to show up and tell their stories.

“Contact your representative,” she said. “Get your neighbor to attend a city council or advisory board meeting with you. Donate. Talk to friends and family about this issue. Vote. All of the above. Use the power of social media. Share a story, a page, a donation link — and tell your friends to share with their friends.”

In Russell’s future, “everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Everyone has somewhere to live, has healthcare, doesn’t have to think about where their next meal is coming from. Housing, food and healthcare — that’s what my thriving community looks like.” 

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