Uninsured but undaunted, a Portland surgical patient searched the globe for a deal

By: Paula Andalo, KFF Health News

Outlets: Maine Morning Star

Published: July 31, 2026

Words: 1,431

Last Updated: 1 month, 1 week ago

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This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons License.

Around the end of last year, Ronmel Rangel, 63, began to feel a familiar discomfort in his lower abdomen. Twenty-five years earlier, while living in his native Venezuela, he had undergone surgery to repair a hernia on the right side of his groin.

Now, the same pain had returned — on the left.

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