Kansas Stories: Jill

Jill Brown is from Hutchinson. She has two children, is engaged, and owns Jillian’s Italian Grill. Like many small-business owners, Jill is unable to provide health insurance to her employees because it is unaffordable. She herself is self-insured.

Many her kitchen staffers do not have insurance for themselves and their families. She believes that Medicaid expansion would help improve their quality of life and create healthy lifestyles for her employees.

Jill also knows that Medicaid expansion would make a significant improvement on her business. She says that she sometimes loses her employees to larger companies that are able to provide benefits such as health insurance. She believes expansion would put her business on a more competitive track, allowing her to bring in professional employees that will stay with her restaurant longer.

She wants others to know that lack of health insurance access causes stress to her employees. She knows that if insurance were more readily available to them, they would lead healthier and better lives and her business would improve.

Do you or someone you know have a health insurance story to share? Email marissa@expandkancare.com.