Thousands Show up for Free Medical Treatment in Houston

[sonias]

On front page of DailyKos right now. if you have an account on DK go give it a recommend for Libby Shaw. Good Texan blogger.

Daily Kos Dairy 9/27/09
Thousands Show up for Free Medical Treatment in Houston
by Libby Shaw
Sun Sep 27, 2009

Cross posted at Texas Kaos.

Yesterday in Houston nearly 2000 folks came to Reliant Stadium for, in some cases, desperately needed medical treatment. Shamefully, Texas has the highest number of uninsured residents. The story is particularly ugly in Houston where 1 in 3 adults are uninsured.

Dr. Oz who runs the free health clinic compared the number of uninsured, untreated people as a national disaster comparable to that of Hurricane Katrina. According to him, Houston and the rest of Texas, a health care Katrina happens everyday.

:kick:

Sonia

[hobbit709]

1. But Goodhair doesn't care about the poor

Poor being defined as anyone not having enough money or wanting to contribute to him.

[sonias]

3. No but these doctors do

The most interesting thing that Dr. Oz did was to compare the uninsured these days to a ship without a captain coming into port. That ship does not know where to go and it's going to end up crashing and costing a lot more money to the system.

This event in Houston was the largest mobilization since Katrina and he says that's where our health care system is these days. It's a crisis on the level of Katrina every day.

I applaud his efforts to put this very needed service on.

:applause: for Dr Oz.

Sonia

[Jane Austin]

4. I've been watching Dr. Oz's new teevee show for a week,

and have learned a lot of good stuff.

He's very interesting and knows how to explain things.

I hope he uses this free clinic in an upcoming show.

[sonias]

6. I hope he inspires Doctors in other areas of Texas too

These clinics are needed all over Texas. Even if we get a good bill passed it's going to take some time to get any program started. People need these services now.

What a great name - Oz. You think he got a lot of digs for his name in school?

Sonia

[Aragorn]

2. where is TMB?

It is more than a failure to address this. It is an active stance against doctors who help the poor. Texas Medical Board has taken no position or stance to address this problem but does seem to selectively help maintain the status quo in Texas.

http://www.aapsonline.org/txaction.php

This otherwise right-wing group has tried to address this issue. Now it may be that even membership in this group is enough to be a problem. In the eyes of TMB.

Keep in mind that treating people for a lot less money rocks the boat. Do not doubt that income is the driving factor for a whole lot of "medical" providers - doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc.

Ask someone on Medicaid in Texas how hard or easy it is to get in to a doctor. Ask someone with no insurance how hard or easy it is.

The following is not a comment on thew group cited in this post, although it may apply. How many doctors in Texas do charity work on any kind of regular basis? I do not count clinics which pay the doctors full salaries and exclude certain parts of the population from treatment. There are some, and that is not charity. That is a tax status. There is a difference.

Once a year visits may be better than nothing but are not good care for most people. The biggest burden falls on people with chronic illness who need ongoing follow-up.

True, a one-time ER visit is expensive but when it involves a chronic illness that's only the beginning.

This is not just a rant because the solution is simple. Single-payer healthcare. It would solve a whole of of other problems too.

[kjackson227]

5. This is EXACTLY why we as Texans, should beware of co-ops in the HCR legislation.

I feel that until Texas turns blue, we can't depend on our state legislators to run our hcr.