Jackie Duda spent nearly a year recovering after a life-threatening case of sepsis. Duda, of New Market, Maryland, was never denied medical care, even when bills from her extended hospital stay and doctors’ visits surpassed $250,000.
But the 61-year-old hasn’t had the same luck with dental bills. As a freelance health journalist, she learned there’s no easy solution.
Her Medicaid insurance won’t cover dental implants, which she needs to replace three teeth that decayed beyond repair due to sepsis and another chronic illness. Even with a discounted rate offered through the University of Maryland’s dental school, Duda doesn’t have $6,000 for the required dental work – charges she hopes to put on a high-interest rate Care Credit account that will only add to her existing credit card debt. Her grown children have offered to help her and her husband, who is on disability and works part-time at Sam’s Club, with these dental costs.
