Paula Medrano shifts uncomfortably on the doctor's examination table, holding out a wrist inflamed and swollen by arthritis. The 78-year-old has no health insurance, lives below the federal poverty level, and can't pay for the medication she needs.
Just days before her appointment, President Barack Obama signed, with much fanfare, a historic bill to extend health care access to 32 million currently uninsured people. But Medrano and her daughter, Juana Aguirre, barely paid attention.
"It's a great thing, but it's not for us," said Aguirre.
Medrano is an undocumented immigrant -- one of the 7 million uninsured people living in the United States who were explicitly excluded from the legislation, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EST4GG0.htm
Posted by (Julio Navarro)
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