How not to fall between the Health Care cracks!

My medical school, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), does a wonderful job of making sure that no one falls between the cracks when it comes to health care. What does that mean? I am talking about the hundreds of thousands of people who don't qualify for health insurance and don't have the means to pay for regular doctor's visits. One way that UMKC accommodates these individuals is with Sojourner Free Health Clinic (if you want more info, or want to know what I've been doing there with my platform and my patients, see my previous post from October or another post from January). Recently, UMKC partnered with local news station in Kansas City, KSHB-41 to help reach out to individuals about Sojourner and other similar resources.

No matter where you stand on the Health Care Reform bill, I think we all can agree that if someone has an ear ache, a broken ankle, or found a lump or odd mole, that they should be able to have access to a doctor to help them. Unfortunately, many of these individuals don't have insurance and can't get into an outpatient clinic due to inability to pay. Instead, they visit the ER, costing 80% more to the hospital than necessary. Not only are free clinics helping cover those who have no insurance, but also facilities like Sojourner are helping fill in the gaps (or cracks, as they were) in insurance. For instance, Medicare often does not cover dental or vision insurance, creating a large crack in individuals' health care. Question is... how can we make sure everyone has an opportunity to seal these cracks?

Last week, local Kansas city TV station KSHB-41 and a few students from UMKC hosted the Cover the Uninsured phone-a-thon to provide information about local clinics that offer free or reduced rate services, how to get insurance, and promoted the annual UMKC Wellness Fair (more to come about this event in next post). For 2 1/2 hours, channel 41 advertised our phone number at the bottom of their broadcast screen, and 15 volunteers were able to assist over 700 individuals on how to get the care they needed, at no additional cost to KC hospitals and with limited or no insurance. It was an absolute blessing being able to help so many of my neighbors take control of their health, instead of having their health control them!

If you want more info on these clinics or how to get insurance or what the Health Care Reform bill means for you, shoot me an email! Whether you're a caller from last week, or a Miss Mo titleholder, everyone can grab hold of their health! No one has to fall through the cracks.