In early March, Verónica del Cid Gaitán noticed a rash on her arms and suspected she’d had an allergic reaction. She’d been avoiding medical care — she didn’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford a large bill — but management at the restaurant where she worked insisted she get the rash checked out before returning. So, Gaitán “fearfully” went to the emergency room at Greater Baltimore Medical Center — her first time accessing health care since she arrived in the U.S from Guatemala last year.

Doctors discovered a mass in her colon when they ordered an ultrasound of her digestive system to see what she might have consumed that caused the rash. Gaitán spent a total of five days in the hospital undergoing further testing and having surgery to remove the mass.

Now, she’s left wondering how she’ll make ends meet if she’s billed for the hospitalization, and she must pay out-of-pocket for her follow-up appointments and medication.

Gaitán is one of the estimated 275,000 undocumented immigrants residing in Maryland who could have benefitted from a bill that would have allowed them to purchase health insurance on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange. The bill failed in the legislative session that concluded this month.

The story continues at The Baltimore Banner: Without insurance, undocumented Marylanders are all but shut out of health care

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