I wish cable television covered this as much as it covered whackjobs screaming about death panels.
“Thousands Line Up for Promise of Free Health Care.”
For the second day in a row, thousands of people lined up on Wednesday — starting after midnight and snaking into the early hours — for free dental, medical and vision services, courtesy of a nonprofit group that more typically provides mobile health care for the rural poor.
Like a giant MASH unit, the floor of the Los Angeles Forum, the arena where Madonna once played four sold-out shows, housed aisle upon aisle of dental chairs, where drilling, cleaning and extracting took place in the open. A few cushions were duct-taped to a folding table in a coat closet, an examining room where Dr. Eugene Taw, a volunteer, saw patients.
Super-clinic finds super-need in L.A. region
At the Forum, those seeking medical treatment included unemployed people who had lost insurance when they lost their jobs as well as some people with insurance who said they could not afford their deductibles or needed services that their carriers didn’t cover.
Volunteer nurse DeAnn McEwen, who works in Long Beach, said she saw one woman, a cancer patient, who had maxed-out her benefits under her HMO and couldn’t afford more out-of-pocket expenses.
Long lines as free health care offered in LA area
The tired, sweaty crowd outside The Forum grew noisy when volunteers announced that they would need to return the next day to see a dentist.
“I don’t have money to come back tomorrow! I borrowed money to get here today!” yelled Ontario resident Jocelyn Langham, 53. A cracked tooth and the fruitless 10-hour wait had frazzled her nerves.
Wow, and the righties tell us they only have waiting lines in Canada.
Maha,
That is just as striking as that youtube video you posted a few months ago. Gosh, its just amazing. Do you think they are worried about socialism too?
I discovered Remote Area Medical was coming to LA a few weeks ago, and emailed their call for doctors and nurses to friends and family around town who are California licensed. This is the same group who previously set up in a Wise County, Virginia fairgrounds – an event that caused that Cigna PR executive to quit and eventually appear on Bill Moyers, as well as testify before Congress. I know diddly about medicine, and so I sent them a donation instead.
I’m hopeful that the media will ultimately focus on this event of mass need at LA’s Forum over the fear-stoked tools trying disrupt health care reform. LA has a huge number of established as well as wannabe film-makers, and I’m willing to bet more than a few are down at the Forum this week. Plus being very blue, we are generally sick and tired of right wing nutcases wrecking this country.
I’m sure the righties will just say that all those people lining up for free medical care are illegal aliens. Decent Christian white folk wouldn’t ever think of taking freebies, and besides, all right-thinking Americans have excellent medical insurance (and if they don’t, it’s their own fault – “individual responsibility” as Rush Limbaugh says). It’s only liberal whiners who think that our health care system is broken – in fact, we have the best medical system in the whole world, which is why Canadians pour across the border to find a US doctor and cheap medications…NOT.
Gee, all that healthcare provided for the needy….
and it didn’t take the government to do it.
Think about that. Government wasn’t the solution. That’s what the argument is about. Nobody, absolutely nobody, is going to prevent Moonbat from helping these folks, or any other needy folks he may find. You wanna help others, have at it. Just do it on your dime.
Oh, and know that even if I am a selfish SOB, if I am ever in need, you’ll have a hard time staying on the moral high ground if you turn me away. neener neener…
Cruising Troll,
Wow, you sure are a wit! The only question is, are you a half, or a nit?
I’m just swelling with pride that the US resembles a third world country.
I’m waiting for the CARE packages to be airdropped. Also, are children in China being told they’d better eat all their vegetables because people are starving in America?
Oh, and know that even if I am a selfish SOB, if I am ever in need, you’ll have a hard time staying on the moral high ground if you turn me away. neener neener…
Wow, so well reasoned. Too bad that the question isn’t will we turn you away, because you know full well that “bleeding hearts” never would. No, the real question is: Why the eff would you be such a selfish SOB, when you admit that someday you, yourself, could be in need? Even if you’re trying to operate under the delusion of “enlightened self-interest,” your argument makes no frickin’ sense.
Also you might try a couple of brand-new things:
1) Read the post and understand it. Here are some key phrases you missed: a nonprofit group that more typically provides mobile health care for the rural poor and the fruitless 10-hour wait. So, first, there is no structure set up to treat the thousands in every urban area of the country who can’t afford health or dental care; and second, this overstretched act of generosity didn’t come anywhere near addressing the actual need.
2) Open your eyes and honestly look at the world around you. You may not still physically live in your mom’s basement, but your brain still does.
Here’s one of this mornings headlines…. U.S. home foreclosures set another record in July
It’s good to see we’re shaking out the dead wood. It’s God’s way of keeping the herd healthy. Reminds me of a herd of wildebeests being pursued by lions on the African plains. Only the strong survive.
Cruising Troll – you’re right, in this case government wasn’t the solution. But is this any way to run a health care system?
It highlights how stupid and ineffective the “Thousand Points of Light” approach is to solving problems. The volunteer effort in LA this week is but a drop in the bucket compared to the need.
And no, I won’t have any problem turning you away, when your hour of need arrives. In fact, I’m looking forward to it. Perhaps then you’ll finally learn. The hard way – this is apparently your choice.
“Charity is a matter of personal attributes, justice a matter of public policy. Charity seeks to alleviate the effects of injustice, justice seeks to eliminate the causes of it. Charity in no way affects the status quo, while justice leads inevitably to political confrontation.” — The Rev. William Sloan Coffin
“With Liberty and JUSTICE for all.” I, for one, like the part of the pledge of allegiance, it’s my favorite part actually. I’ve stood and recited it 2 times this week at town halls presided by Sheila Jackson Lee. I am mighty discouraged today, after studying health care reform for a year and a half, I go to support progressives at a town hall only to be shouted down with every word. The congressman forbade physical blows but other than that- anything goes!!!! I could hear nothing, say nothing, only yelling got attention and I refuse to do that. I could use some encouraging words. I myself have medicare and a supplement thro my partner that basically covers 100% of my care. I am not saying it is free, but I have the security of knowing no matter what happens to my health, illness will not bankrupt me. How could I not want that security for everyone? There were people at last night’s town hall who could have told me why, but they were too busy shouting ‘just say no’ in my ear, that I learned nothing. I guess the most important part of my quote is ‘justice leads to political confrontation. ‘ That is hard to get my head around but I am getting an advanced degree in the concept. Why do I feel like dropping out of school?
Troll – The ‘solution’ which wasn’t a ‘governement solution’ wasn’t even a band-aid on an amputation. They went flat-out and never came close to addressing the amount of need there is. This isn’t an argument for ‘private sector’ answers – it’s proof that the charitable groups (God bless ’em) are not up to the magnitude of the task.
“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
As always, late to the party but I just have to say this about the death panels.
I knew someone who was getting chemo for cancer and still harbored some hope. Then at one treatment they noticed a markedly different attitude from doctors and nurses. The doctor was very short with him and the nurses avoided him. He asked to be told what was going on and no one could tell him.
Sure that must be the terribly hard part of certain jobs in the medical profession and some carry out the function needed by the patient admirably but some don’t.
If you think there might be a need for some form of counseling at other stages of life just you wait. I hope no one ever has to go through what that man went through.
And these slimeballs have the audacity to distort something as human as end of life counseling into a dirty lie and try to use it to delude people. They are either unbelievably ignorant or the scum of the earth.