Free health care in the U.S.?

A field hospital giving free health and dental care to people who don’t have access. People camping out overnight in order to line up for the free health services. It sounds like an aid effort in a remote village of a developing country. But it’s actually happening at the forum in downtown Los Angeles.

Many of the clinic’s customers were the working poor. Some of them were children who had never seen a doctor. Some are newly laid off workers who have lost their insurance and their income. Most people availed themselves of dental services, having teeth removed or fixed after not visiting a dentist for years. For many, it meant relief from years of pain or even the ability to eat solid food again. Others were seeking attention for chronic conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. They had no access to relatively inexpensive preventative care for these treatable conditions.

It seems almost criminal in a country as wealthy as ours that this is the only health care we can offer people who work, children and people who are victims of the economic recession. But on the other hand, Remote Area Medical Expedition is out there doing something about the problem, and that is worth supporting.

• Read the full account of the Los Angeles free clinic in The Awl
• More about Remote Area Medical from the Bill Moyers Journal
• PR Watch article about Remote Area Medical Expeditions
• Become a fan of Remote Area Medical on Facebook

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