I really wonder how much the author of this article knows about FQHCs. FQHCs provide primary care to under-served populations in under-served areas that would not likely receive primary medical care. This means that rather than waiting until a health care problem becomes an crisis, it can be dealt with early on when it is still manageable. It is true that FQHCs receive a higher reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid than other providers. However, it has been shown that FQHCs’ role in keeping people out of the ER is an over all money saver in the communities they serve.

At my job I see people every day who have lost their insurance after losing their jobs and who therefore lose access to meaningful health care. I also see people on a regular basis who have lost their house and gone into bankruptcy because of medical bills. I just recently saw a patient who lost his leg to diabetes because he had no meaningful access to medical care.

I have lived in my hometown my my whole life, and before this FQHC was here, people who did not have insurance simply didn’t get healthcare until it was an emergency or until it was too late.

Of course I am biased, but from where I sit I would like to see a lot more FQHCs in a lot more places where people still don’t have meaningful access to health care.

Luther

What if the poor want private medicine rather than clinic care?

I think all their problems arise from the fact that Washington wants to dictate how they operate.