Living in the Gap — A Slow Death Sentence

I suggest reading the whole article.

She is not covered by health insurance because she lives in Idaho, a Republican state that chose not to expand Medicaid when the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) became law. Of course, she would have been in exactly the same condition before the ACA.

http://www.betteridaho.org/2015/11/in-her-own-words/

I woke this morning with half my face swollen and throbbing–another bad tooth.

I sat in the bathroom with an icepack pressed to my face and bawled. Not because of the pain but because of sheer frustration. I knew the tooth was going. I’d even managed to set aside $150 for the dentist over the last six months but it was far from the $650 the dentist needs for the root canal and crown.

Once again, I’d lose a body part to poverty.

•••••

Living in poverty is a slow death sentence.

I wash the tears from my face with cold water, brush my hair, and paste a half-assed smile on my swollen face. It’s time for work.

•••••