Kathy

Kathy

Kathy Paul is an active member of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, a statewide, grassroots, senior-led organization that empowers its members to use their own voices to address key public policy and community issues that affect their health and well-being. Kathy introduced herself “…not just as an activist, but as a mother of five, a grandmother of 10, and a great-grandmother of five, who is deeply concerned about the future of health care.”

She continued: “As a senior, I live on a very limited fixed income and I rely on MassHealth [the Massachusetts Medicaid program] for my health care. I feel very fortunate because, for the most part, I am very healthy. I don't take any medication and stay very active. But I know the reality of when that's not the case. My husband had several very serious health conditions including diabetes and kidney failure. He had to endure two amputations below the knee and was on dialysis three times a week. If it was not for MassHealth, we would never have been able to cover his care. I am thankful that I was able to focus on taking care of him rather than worrying about how we would pay for the care he needed or being denied because we did not have the money to meet a huge deductible.

Kathy first got involved with the Massachusetts Senior Action Council in 2007, while her late husband was still alive and she was putting most of her energy into the demands of caring for him. After he passed away in 2012, it was a turning point in her life. She explains, “With more time on your hands, what do you do? Just sit in the house, stare at the walls and complain, or get out and do something about it? What our group likes to say, ‘we don’t just take it, we take charge!’”

Consumer Stories

The needs and experiences of health care consumers — particularly people in marginalized or low-income communities or with complex needs and significant disabilities — are the driving force of the Center’s work. Documenting and amplifying patients’ real-life health care situations, in their own words, is central to our ability to create a health care system that works for all of us. Click below for stories from some of the consumers we work with.