"Best Health Care in the World!" Really!! We don't need no steenkin' "Obamacare"...

Montoya considers what he could do for himself if Medicaid could pay his doctor bills. He would need to have his mouth fixed, which probably means all his teeth would be pulled, he says.

“Well, and I have a lump,” he says, raising his gray sweatshirt and placing his hand in the center of his stomach. There, a tight knot is growing under the skin.

Montoya earns $9 an hour taking care of the 86-year-old man through Addus Home Health Care in Española. Montoya could go to La Clinica del Pueblo de Rio Arriba on a sliding-fee scale. At the most, he would pay $40 for a dental exam and $20 for medical. Medications and X-rays would cost more.

Even though these clinics are busy caring for the uninsured, there are many, like Montoya, who still avoid care. People can’t afford the gas to get there. Or they don’t have a car. Or the copay is too much. So Montoya lives with a growing lump in his stomach, yanks his teeth when they get loose and stops noticing his football-worn knees should be replaced.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/010713InDepth-Medicaid

This is my neighbor. Christ told me to regard him as my brother.

Mi Hermano, I am sorry. Sorry I didn't do more to keep Texas Susie out of our statehouse. Sorry I haven't done more to fight for a greater national investment in rural health care.

I will do better.

sadly,
Bright