Budget cuts stop Phoenix man from getting new liver

by Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Nov. 17, 2010
The Arizona Republic

A Laveen liver-disease patient missed his opportunity for an organ transplant Tuesday, becoming the most dire example yet of an Arizonan denied life-saving medical care because of budget cuts to the state's health-care system for the poor.

Francisco Felix, 32, was in the hospital ready to receive a liver that was donated to him late Monday night. But the liver went to another recipient Tuesday morning because he couldn't find $200,000 overnight to pay for the liver transplant, one of seven kinds of transplant surgery the state stopped covering Oct. 1.

Felix was the first liver-transplant patient known to be affected, but is not likely to be the last. the rest

Health coverage at risk for working poor in Pa.