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Peggy Gerber Poem
Death by Insurance
She sits in her car,
in the parking lot
of the emergency room,
with the worst stomach ache of her life.
Watching the fluorescent lights rhythmically blink,
she blinks back her tears.
Caught in a web of indecision,
she doesn’t know what to do.
She thinks about her health insurance,
and her $8,000 deductible,
and she wishes she lived in Canada or England or France,
because she needs that money for food, and rent,
and life.
Her brain exploding with uncertainty,
her stomach erupting in pain,
she stays in her car and drives home.
And she eats some antacids and goes to bed,
promising herself that if she doesn’t feel better in the morning,
she will return to the emergency room.
Her mother, devastated and ruined,
identifies her body at the morgue.
What a waste of a life, they say.
Such a shame.
If only she had gone to the hospital sooner.
February 11, 2020
Copyright © Peggy Gerber | Year Posted 2020
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