Posted on 10/27/2014 11:54:32 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Since January 1 of this year, James Barnes has had pretty decent health care. He gets insulin for his diabetes and the needles to inject it, blood pressure medication, access to a psychiatrist and counselor and optometrist, and frequent visits to the doctor, all for free.
Barnes lives in Maryland, one of the dozens of states that expanded Medicaid to people with incomes at or below 138 percent of the poverty level as part of the Affordable Care Act. For Barnes and thousands like him, that expansion has meant access to services like physical therapy, mental-health treatment, x-rays, dialysis, hospice care, eye exams, substance-abuse treatment, podiatrists, and oncologists.
What Barnes does not have, however, is a place to live. Since getting out of jail a year and a half ago, hes stayed at half a dozen homeless shelters in Baltimore as hes looked for work. He carries his belongingsand his insulinwith him in two plastic bags, the type youd get at CVS.
Being homeless doesnt exactly help Barnes, who is 51, become healthier. When he first started living on the streets, hed have to borrow a few dollars to buy food to keep his diabetes in check. Even now, he isnt allowed to bring food into the homeless shelters, so he doesnt often eat produce or healthy food, instead relying on the starchy, heavy food at soup kitchens. He avoids taking any of his medications that could make him urinate frequently, since its so hard to find somewhere to go to the bathroom, and people at homeless shelters often steal his needles and medication....
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I think you are on to something here.../ S
All those towers of poverty in the HDA housing projects are vast lands of healthy and vibrate living where health care needs and costs are almost non-existent...
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