The Dire Limits of Health Care

By Dave Rice | Published Wednesday, March 7, 2012

In the fall of 2010, Raul Carranza arrived on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles by way of Eastlake High School and Southwestern College, pursuing a psychology degree. By the following January, he had been forced to withdraw and return to Chula Vista to live at home with his parents and younger brother.

Carranza hadn’t been kicked out of school due to academic or disciplinary issues. Instead, on his 21st birthday, Medi-Cal cut his services, which included round-the-clock nursing care that he needs because he has muscular dystrophy.

“Muscular dystrophy is a progressive disease. It gets worse as you get older,” Carranza tells me, speaking with the assistance of his afternoon nurse Laura, when I visit his home in early January.

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