The deadly toll of N.C.’s withholding Medicaid

When I walked into the clinic exam room, Sarah greeted me with a beatific smile. Despite her relative youth and a diagnosis of widely metastatic breast cancer, she clearly had the happy gene. As her physician, I had a harder time with the cards that life had dealt her. From her chart, I learned that she had had a good job with health insurance until the economic downturn. In short order, she noticed a lump in her breast, lost her job, then her health insurance. Since North Carolina has not fully implemented the Affordable Care Act, she was trapped. By the time she found our clinic, her breast cancer had spread to her bones. Despite the grim prognosis and the constant bone pain, she was still smiling.With nearly three years of data, the benefits of the Affordable Care Act are clear. No longer does a diagnosis of diabetes, cancer …
Go to Source