We Love Access
Medicaid helps children get the mental health care they need
Medicaid is the largest provider of children’s mental health services in America. It covers care in hospitals, clinics, schools and communities—often for children and families who have nowhere else to turn. When Medicaid works, young people can get life-changing care. When it doesn’t, families feel every gap.
Why Medicaid Matters
Mental health care only matters if children can access it.
Medicaid is more than an insurance program. It is the backbone of children’s behavioral health care—supporting early screening, therapy, crisis services, hospital care and ongoing treatment. Its pediatric benefit, known as EPSDT, is a promise: if care is medically necessary, children should be able to receive it.
For millions of young people, that promise can be the difference between getting help early and waiting until a crisis. It can mean staying in school, keeping a family together or finding a path forward when none felt visible.
The Challenge Now
A lifeline under pressure.
Recent federal changes are reshaping Medicaid through major funding reductions, new eligibility and reporting requirements, and added pressure on states already working to meet growing mental health needs. The effects will vary from state to state, but the risk is shared: more red tape, fewer resources and more children and families caught in the gaps.
The policy may be complicated. The consequence is not. When coverage becomes harder to keep—or systems have less capacity to deliver care—young people wait longer for help.
Children should not lose care in the fine print.
Every provision, process and policy decision should be measured against its impact on the people Medicaid exists to serve.
What Is We Love Medicaid?
Love is a policy position.
We Love Medicaid is a national campaign from Speak Our Minds that protects and strengthens children’s access to mental health care by making the case for Medicaid impossible to ignore.
We bring youth, families, children’s hospitals and advocates into the same conversation—pairing lived experience with policy expertise, practical tools and creative storytelling. Because the people closest to the system know where it works, where it fails and what needs to change.
Our Approach
01
We make the
complex human.
Medicaid policy can be technical. Its impact is deeply personal. We translate dense policy into clear, accessible stories and tools without losing the truth—or the stakes.
02
We turn listening
into action.
Youth and families do not appear as an afterthought or a testimonial. Their experiences help shape the message, the policy recommendations and the work itself.
03
We build with people,
not around them.
Hospitals, councils, advocates and policy leaders each bring part of the answer. The campaign creates a shared platform for coordinated action.
04
We believe progress
should be usable.
Awareness is not the finish line. We equip people to understand what is changing, speak up effectively and help make Medicaid work as promised.
What the Campaign Does
- Elevates real stories from children, youth and families affected by Medicaid policy.
- Turns complicated policy developments into clear, shareable content.
- Creates advocacy toolkits, message guidance and campaign resources.
- Activates hospital-based youth and family councils in state and national advocacy.
- Supports EPSDT implementation through education, training and technical assistance.
- Uses creative campaigns—including responsible applications of AI—to reach people beyond the usual policy audience.
The system must work for those who use it.
Together, we are building momentum for children’s mental health—one story, one policy and one system at a time.
Award Recognition
RECOGNIZED BY THE ANTHEM AWARD
Award-winning advocacy. Powered by human truth.
We Love Medicaid received a 2025 Bronze Anthem Award in Health for Best Use of AI—recognition of the campaign’s inventive use of emerging technology to make complex Medicaid policy more accessible, engaging and shareable.
The technology helped us move faster and communicate differently. But the point was never AI for AI’s sake. The campaign began with real experiences, remained grounded in human judgment and used creativity to help more people understand what is at stake.