Dual: The True Cost of Care

In the 14th and final episode of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we travel to Alabama to meet Bianca, a Black disabled mother, nurse, and eventual patient who had to learn to depend on the very programs she once spent her career supporting. Bianca grew up in an abusive household and built a life for herself through hard work and care for others. She worked at a state psychiatric hospital, steady and...

In Episode 13 of our new original series, Dual: The True Cost of Care, we travel to West Virginia to meet Cori who became paralyzed after a sledding accident. Cori’s recovery wasn’t just about adjusting to a new life. It meant navigating massive systems like Medicare and Medicaid. From denials and short staffing to limited supplies like catheters and delayed treatments, Cori’s story reflects the r...

In Episode 12 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we travel to Arkansas to meet Jacqueline, a disabled advocate with a master’s degree who advises federal officials on disability policy and serves on the state Medicaid board. Born with cerebral palsy and later diagnosed with cancer, Jacqueline’s story is one of self-advocacy and resilience, and one many disabled people know all too well. From navigati...

In Episode 11 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we travel to Mississippi to meet Jennifer, a mother and fiancée navigating dual-eligibility while managing bipolar disorder, an invisible disability with real consequences. Jennifer relies on both Medicaid and Medicare, but having more insurance does not mean more access to care. The poverty traps tied to public benefits have limited her ability to wor...

In Episode 10 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we meet a seventy-year-old person in North Carolina navigating co-pays, insurance claims, and nursing home care after a lifetime shaped by trauma, loss, and care decisions made without her consent. In a state where many decisions about their life and care were taken from them, this seventy-year-old’s story speaks to resilience and the realities of agin...

In Episode 9 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we visit Stephanie and La’Mena in Florida. A mother and daughter facing a very common, but unspoken question of “who knows my child best?” In Florida, decisions about a child's care and who provides that care are most often left to the state, but Stephanie is refusing to accept that. This episode is about a mother fighting for her child’s care in a syst...

In Episode 8 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we visit Kim and Kathleen in Tennessee, a mother and daughter doing the best they can to navigate an already fractured system. This is a story about what happens when mental health care becomes warehousing, where family advocacy is the only thing standing between your loved ones surviving as opposed to being forced into the streets. Watch now to underst...

In Episode 7 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we visit Briana in Oklahoma. Briana is a talented artist whose disability journey began in childhood when she was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Over the span of three decades, Briana’s health has continued to change, while resources like Medicaid and Medicare remain limited, subjecting Briana and her family to poverty traps, marriage pen...

In Episode 6 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we get to chat with Diane, a disabled Black woman with multiple chronic conditions moving through a broken health care system the best way she can. With the support of her daughter, a nurse who understands how Medicaid and Medicare are leveraged to support patients, one would think Diane would be exempt from the poverty traps, delays, and access issues...

n Episode 5 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we visit a disabled, fat, queer person named Rachel (they/them) in Virginia. In the episode, Rachel details the difficulty of managing chronic health care conditions and getting access to the health care they need to survive, describing the process as a full-time job. Watch now to learn more about Rachel’s story. Learn more about the project and our work...

Content Warning: This episode explores themes like suicidality. Viewer discretion is advised. In Episode 4 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we visit a disabled Black woman and trusted disability access advocate, Rickii, in Louisiana.    In the episode, Rickii highlights her experience navigating the approval process for home and community-based services, services she desperately needs, especially f...

Trigger Warning: This episode includes language that may not be appropriate for young viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. In Episode 3 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we visit our friend Michael in South Carolina. In the episode, Michael highlights his experience as a dual elbiglbe quadrapalegic, contrasting his experience navigating healthcare on the East Coast with his experience in the South...

Trigger Warning: This episode explores themes like death, substance use, and incarceration. Viewer discretion is advised. Episode 2: “Falling Through the Cracks”  In Episode 2 of Dual: The True Cost of Care, we focus on Jen in Kentucky, who, like millions of people living with disabilities across the South, must navigate the complex and often contradictory rules of Medicare and Medicaid to access...

In Episode 1, we meet Kayla in Georgia, whose experience highlights how fragmented care systems force people with disabilities to fight for services that should be guaranteed.