Friday, December 11, 2009

Free Health Care Clinic in Kansas City Draws Thousands

A two-day free health care clinic this week in Kansas City attracted an estimated 2,300 and once again underscored the fact that the health care system in the United States, is broken.

Uninsured people poured into Bartle Hall seeking the care that they are unable to afford due to varying circumstances. Some were surprised at how "normal" the people were who showed up for the clinic. Take the reaction of Casey Lyons at "The Pitch":

I expected to find the proverbial huddled masses at the free health care clinic that's been going on for the last two days at Bartle Hall. I was sure there'd be down-on-their luck homeless people. The wretchedly sick, decomposing-on-their-feet folks with wild hair and wild eyes who materialized out of the gutters to get their boils or teeth checked.

I was very wrong...by and large, the people who waited for free health care look just like everyone else.


As Congress continues to debate health care reform legislation and weaken the impact that this legislation will have in fixing some of the root problems, let's hope that images and stories from events like these will be taken into consideration.

Blogger Eve Gittleson at Firedoglake went down to this event and shot some riveting video of people who were in line to receive care at this event. Some had not been to the doctor in years and some are unable to afford necessary medication:











As the Republicans continue to voice opposition to any type of proposed reforms and as Democrats continue to weaken the legislation to the benefit of the health care industry and insurance companies, one has to wonder who is looking out for these people?


This piece is also posted here.

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