The Maddening Fight for 6-Year-Old Moira Ermentrout
The Mother Jones Podcast
Mother Jones
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2019
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Moira Ermentrout was diagnosed with a rare disease when she was born. The six-year-old's list of medical problems is long and complex: she can't breathe on her own, walk, or talk, and she requires at-home assistance 24 hours a day. Factor in doctors appointments, occasional emergency visits, and equipment, the cost of Moira’s care can be crippling on her parents. Moira’s family now faces serious cutbacks to the critical medical care she needs to stay alive—as do thousands of children like Moira around the country, caught in the midst of state-by-state rollbacks. This week, we take a look at one family's fight against a healthcare system that is failing some of the most vulnerable among us.
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Mother Jones Podcast. |
| 0:02.0 | I'm Jimmy King in New York. |
| 0:04.0 | On today's |
| 0:08.0 | on the show. |
| 0:12.0 | On today's show, put yourself in this situation, if you can. |
| 0:17.0 | You're caring for a six-year-old who needs help, with absolutely everything. |
| 0:23.0 | She can't breathe on her own, |
| 0:25.0 | she can't walk or talk. |
| 0:27.0 | She's prone to seizures. |
| 0:29.0 | And now you're facing serious cutbacks in critical medical care, facing debt, confusion, and almost |
| 0:38.6 | perpetual fear. |
| 0:41.4 | One family's fight against America's broken health care system, failing the most vulnerable among us. |
| 0:48.0 | That's coming up. Stick around. Moira Ermine Trout has big blue eyes, a tooty smile, and pigtail blonde hair. |
| 1:07.0 | Are you trying to grab my glasses? |
| 1:10.0 | Don't you do it. |
| 1:12.0 | She has a rare brain disorder which prevents her from talking, sitting, or standing by herself. |
| 1:20.0 | You better not do it. |
| 1:25.0 | not do it. |
| 1:28.0 | Getting health care in this country is hard enough. |
| 1:31.0 | It's confusing and it's constantly under attack state by state. |
| 1:35.0 | Now North Carolina could be threatening to cut back on Medicaid |
| 1:40.0 | which has been a lifeline for Moira and children like her. |
... |
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