Dr. Mehmet Oz, the now famous TV personality, held a free medical clinic yesterday in Houston. Figures vary, but the Houston Chronical is placing the turn out at nearly 2,000; he had about 700 volunteers helping. That turnout is low, given that one in three people in the county lack health care insurance.
The stories of the people are important and illuminating. A video from the Chronicle, which I can’t seem to get on this blog, is here. It is really worth watching. As the Chronicle says:
Patients told stories of their barriers to health care: insurance loss after layoffs; premiums that became too high to pay; and being underinsured — having coverage, but not enough money to pay deductibles and co-payments.
Here’s another video taken before the clinic opened:
The opening placement of a commercial from Cadillac is too ironic.
The reference to Katrina is to the massive attempt by Houston and Galveston to take in the refugees from the hurricane that devastated New Orleans. Next to the Reliant Stadium, where Dr. Oz is, is the Astrodome, which provided shelter for the people of New Orleans who were originally in a stadium there.
No comments:
Post a Comment