A Musical Vision: High Touch: The Course in Compassion

A Musical Vision: High Touch: The Course in Compassion. published in 2013 (credits to Vincent Deluise M.D. , Professor, Yale Univeersity)

Today it is 2022, nine years later, and nothing has changed.  Despite the outcry all attempts have fallen short.  The system is so complex and there is no one thing that could make it simpler.  Even in the U.K. the N.H.S. struggles with overload.

 

How many times a week do you hear "Healthcare is Broken" ?

We all know how difficult it is to obtain acess to a provider without that 'plastic card' and oh yes, your official government I.D. Once you gain access the guardians at the gate will see you or  refer to the appropriate expertise on the part of the anatomy that is confounding your quality of life.

Today, more people are insured thanks to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), however in 2022 there are still a significant number of uninsured citizens.  The number of Americans lacking health insurance ticked up slightly last year, marking the first annual increase in the uninsured rate in nearly a decade, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday.  The uninsured rate rose from 7.9 percent in 2017 to 8.5 percent last year, amounting to nearly 2 million more uninsured people, as experts said the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act were partly to blame. The tax penallty form being uninsured was removed as well.  

Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, the National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (NAFC) was founded in 2001 by a group of grassroots medical providers and organizers who recognized that health care was not being provided at a local level to the working poor, uninsured and underinsured in our country in a way that was cost-effective, accessible and affordable.

Many people do not realize that there are approximately 1,400 Free and Charitable Clinics and Charitable Pharmacies throughout the nation who since the 1960s have been filling in the gap for those who “fall through the cracks” in our current health care system. These clinics/pharmacies receive little to no state or federal funding, do not receive HRSA 330 funds and are not Federally Qualified Health Centers or Rural Health Centers. Volunteer doctors, pharmacists and medical students support this effort without compensation.  Often vendors, and medical supply companies donate equipment to be used at these "free clinic".