Outside SLO Library
Sarcastic News Flash!!! Insert tongue into cheek now.
Today we learned from our friends in San Luis Obispo that California has solved the problem of obtaining health care for their 6.5 million uninsured and their millions of underinsured! Two days ago the Governator signed into law a bill that allows health care clinicians from out of state to come to California to provide free medical care, just like clinicians do in other third world countries.
This legislation was sparked by the group Remote Area Medicine who first brought their medical and dental teams to Los Angeles last year. On the first day, they were overwhelmed as thousands of people lined up at their door. Many of the people who showed up had insurance but had found that they still couldn’t afford necessary care. Welcome to third world America!
But let’s get serious, the news isn’t all bad. Our experience in San Luis Obispo is that this is a passionate community of physicians and health advocates. We had lunch with 4 local doctors who wanted to learn more about single payer. One doctor had spent the past ten months organizing a comprehensive free clinic for the community.
Our forum at the local library was attended by over 120 people who shared their caring and their stories with us. One physician told us that he was happy to be employed by the state prison system. The pay is good and he can focus on taking care of his patients without insurance company hassles. He reminded us that prisoners cannot legally be denied necessary medical care, unlike those outside of prison. He was able to spearhead an initiative to ban all tobacco products in the prison which resulted in a 40% decrease in referrals to cardiologists. Oh the horrors of socialized medicine!
We need a health care system that is universal and promotes preventative measures to improve health, just like those in the California prison system. We need single payer now.
