Frequently, someone contacts me who is recently disabled due to
a traumatic accident and has no access to healthcare. A similar
scenario was depicted recently in a New York Times article on
healthcare. Oregon resident Wendy Parris shattered her ankle.
Because she was uninsured, the emergency room doctors did not
operate on it, but rather placed the ankle in an air cast and
discharged her. For four years, she hobbled on the broken foot
becoming less mobile and gaining weight. In 2008 Oregon
participated in a study where it opened its Medicaid rolls to
some working adults living close to the poverty level. Oregon
provided healthcare insurance to these uninsured via a lottery
system. This allowed Oregon to test a hypothesis on how having
healthcare effects individuals and whether having healthcare
actually saves money. The study showed that having health
insurance made people happier, healthier and more financially
stable. The study also dispelled the myth that Medicaid does not
help people and that people can g