2500 line up for Mobile Free Clinic for Health Care

[BainsBane]

Robert Ellis has walked 15 miles, through the night, to get here. But he isn't here for a summertime fair.
"I really need my teeth fixed. They are really bad. And my hearing," Ellis says. "I don't know which one's worse, my hearing or my teeth." . . .

Ellis joins some 2,500 other people who over the course of three days line up in the wee hours of the morning in the hopes of getting free medical care. Many want their teeth checked or even pulled, others need their eyes examined, but some, like Sheila Johnson, are also looking for specialized medical care. . . .

"Even though the care here is quality care, we don't need to be doing this in the world's richest country," Brock says. "I would rather be back in Haiti, in India and Africa, and where this organization began in the Amazon than doing it here in the world's richest country. But I don't see this ending anytime soon." . . .

Over the course of three days in Wise, RAM helped 1,200 dental patients, pulled 4,000 teeth, grinded lenses for 900 pairs of glasses and in total provided more than $2 million dollars worth of health care. All free of charge.

"It doesn't matter where you go in the United States you are going to find huge numbers of people that either dont have access to care because it's an underserved area or in most cases they can't afford to go to the dentist, they can't afford to go to the eye doctor," Brock said. "So they are going to be relying on the kinds of services we provide."

Full Story and video at http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mobile-free-clinic-brings-health-care-uss-underserved/story?id=20016498

[Earth_First]

1. Rural Area Medical is one org we donate to every year...nt

[BainsBane]

2. These stories break my heart

It shows that parts of the county functions as an underdeveloped nation when it comes to health care. It's fantastic that you contribute.

[Earth_First]

4. RAM has essentially limited its overseas presence to focus on domestic needs...

Its extremely unfortunate.

Thank goodness to the hundreds of volunteers, doctors nurses and equipment/supply vendors that donate their time and material to help the thousands who show up yo these clinics, where sometime hundreds are turned away out of lack of time and resource.

[Harmony Blue]

3. This is so screwed up

how can a supposed superpower let this happen in the first place?

[BainsBane]

5. Note that the head of the program says he does't think the need

will end, meaning he doesn't expect Obamacare to help these people.

[bluestate10]

6. That is your interpretation. People like the people showing up at the clinics WILL be helped by

the ACA if they register and aren't scared away by republican evildoers, or the far Left that pines for Single Payer and thinks nothing else is worthy.

[BainsBane]

7. It's his interpretation, not mine

He didn't mention Obamacare, but he did say he didn't see the need ending. It seems that many of the people they serve would be covered by Medicare expansion, only some starts are still refusing to take part. I'm not sure if VA is among them.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. Evidently Virginia is getting closer.

Three More Key Red States Could Still Sign Onto Obamacare

Virginia’s Republican-controlled statehouse is getting closer to expanding Medicaid under Obamacare, a top GOP legislator said Monday.

State Sen. Emmett Hanger, who is heading the panel that was created by the legislature to study Medicaid expansion, told the Roanoke Times that the group is “a little over halfway” toward a deal to expand the program’s eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level in 2014, as prescribed in the Affordable Care Act.

Virginia and two other red states, Ohio and Michigan, are all still working to expand Medicaid next year.

Three more large conservative states signing onto that key provision of Obamacare would be a significant win for the White House. Since the U.S. Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion optional last year, most GOP-led statehouses — with a few notable exceptions, such as Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey and Gov. Jan Brewer in Arizona, who threatened to veto every bill that crossed her desk unless the legislature agreed to expansion — have turned down the deal.

....

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/08/more-republican-states-could-agree-to-obamacare-medicaid-expansion.php

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. The ACA covers vision and dental?

Are ACA deductibles waived for those whose premium payments are subsidized?

Not all states have expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. I know, I live in one of them. Unemployment is extremely high, AND folks are being screwed on healthcare. (Don't suggest they move...not everyone can just pick up and move.)

There are too many Americans who can't afford a pair of $99 Walmart glasses, or a $129 annual check-up/teeth cleaning. You come across as having no grasp of poverty. Do you think these same people are sitting around reading blogs, and being influenced by "the far Left"? Anyone who uses "the far left" is likely sitting in a cushy air-conditioned office at a job paying full benefits, and has too much time on his or her hands.

And thanks for the reminder of George W. -- I can never hear the word "evildoers" without cringing.

[BainsBane]

10. definitely not dental

I'm not sure about vision.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

11. Pediatrics coverage, but not adult, evidently.

....

The essential health benefits include things like maternity care and hospitalizations. It includes “pediatric services, including oral and vision care.” The American Dental Association estimates that about 3 million children will gain dental benefits as a result of this provision.

There’s nothing, however, that would require coverage of such services for adults.

This is actually true of a lot of public insurance plans: Medicare barely covers much in the way of dental benefits (the AARP offers private, supplementary plans for such coverage). In Medicaid, 22 states either offer no dental coverage at all or only do so in emergency situations.

Dentists, meanwhile, haven’t exactly been gunning to be included in public-health systems. Staying outside of the insurance system means they can charge whatever prices they want, without a health plan pushing back. “Organized dentistry flexed its muscles in 1965 to keep dentists out of the Medicare system,” The Wall Street Journal’s Alica Mundy reported in a recent article on the dentist lobby.

This is a situation that troubles a lot of public-health advocates. About 33 million Americans live in areas where there aren’t enough dentists to meet oral health-care needs. Research has linked poor oral health to increased use of emergency services and higher risk for diabetes and heart and respiratory diseases.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/16/romneys-right-obamacare-does-not-include-dental-care/

So, yeah, thousands will still be lined up for vision and dental services...