Source: Lauren Ketwitz, NC POLICY WATCH, 3/22/22


On her morning commute to work, Dr. Laura Ucik, a rural family physician in the northern Piedmont of North Carolina, thinks about the patients who could have avoided serious illness and injury had they qualified for Medicaid years ago. One such patient with severe stomach pain couldn’t afford an ultrasound to identify whether or not they had gallstones. Another arrived with a swollen leg, a common but urgent symptom of a blood clot. Unable to pay for imaging and blood thinning medication, they left without a diagnosis.

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