- Fran Ruhl’s family received a startling letter from the Iowa Department of Human Services four weeks after she died in January 2022.
- “Dear FAMILY OF FRANCES RUHL,” the letter begins. “We have been informed of the death of the above person, and we wish to express our sincere condolences.”
- The letter gets right to the point: Iowa’s Medicaid program had spent $226,611.35 for Ruhl’s health care, and the government was entitled to recoup that money from her estate, including nearly any assets she owned or had a share in. If a spouse or disabled child survived Ruhl, the collection could be delayed until after their death, but the money would still be owed.
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Health Care In America Sucks
Dr. Dilan Ellegala, left, supervises Dr. Emmanuel Nuwas of Tanzania as he inserts a shunt in a baby with hydrocephalus. Ellegala has played a key role in training local doctors, as described in the new book A Surgeon in the Village. Early on, he trained a hospital staffer who wasn't a doctor to do brain surgery
