Puerto Rico's Health System Still Reeling From Maria Two Months Later

Half of Puerto Rico’s electric grid remains down, leaving many of the island’s 3.4 million residents exposed to the heat and unable to keep food or medicines cool without generators. Doctors are trying to make house calls, but there's only so much they can do. And at the same time, the conditions have exacerbated many residents' medical problems.

In western Puerto Rico, Oscar Corzo, a New York physician, was treating a woman for her chronic illnesses this month when he noticed a group of her neighbors had gathered to ask for help. “Almost kind of organically, there was a waiting room,” said Dr. Corzo, who stayed on the woman’s porch for two hours treating her neighbors. “It really struck me because it told me what need there was.” (Evans, 11/19)

Puerto Rico’s Medicaid funding crisis is deepening, adding yet another issue for Congress to deal with in what is sure to be a hectic December. Hurricane Maria caused serious damage to Puerto Rico’s health-care system, and none of the federal disaster relief money to date has been earmarked for the Medicaid program. (Weixel, 11/19)

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