Caught in the social safety net
When a nursing student named Marcella Wagner swerved to avoid another car on a freeway in northern California, in February 2012, her entire life changed. Wagner, who was seven months pregnant, skidded off the road, crashed, and was paralyzed from the chest down. Amazingly, doctors were able to deliver Wagner’s baby in healthy condition, but she would need extensive daily assistance. Wagner and her husband, Dave Campbell, who worked for a small manufacturer and earned $39,000 a year, have only been able to afford that assistance through Medi-Cal, the state version of Medicaid. Medi-Cal is a means-tested program, meaning it has restrictions on personal wealth: Essentially, recipients are subject to income limits, and may only have $3,150 in assets beyond a house and one vehicle. So Campbell and Wagner have to be comparatively poor to get health care: low income, no retirement savings, no college savings for their child. “It’s a huge hole,...