http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/ci_8519081 reports that a new medical clinic serving the uninsured in the area described is being opened and funded by the Order of Malta (a Catholic fraternal organization).
Compare this to the time, dollars, and energy being used by the AMA to push for health insurance coverage for people (in order to assure payment to physicians). While none (hopefully are left) believe that physicians are in business not to turn a tidy profit, any more than health insurers are in business not to make money, the unbridled greed of these sectors often misleads the public, contaminates the public dialogue about health care (through the dominant voices of well-paid lobbyists), and jeopardizes real progress. When it comes to health insurers and physicians, in an effort to declutter, the consistent consumer stakeholder issue must be addressed: Does (insert action) move consumers closer to obtaining accessible, affordable and quality health care when they need it?
Clearly, a health clinic moves us towards that goal. Clearly, pushing for more health insurance that is too costly for the risks it covers is not.
Now examine the parading out of "uninsured children". In case we haven't noticed, parading out children when someone wants to institute a program that otherwise is not clearly beneficial is a common marketing theme. It's really the only time we pay attention to this un-powerful group. Children are generally healthy (thank heavens). When they're not, they are not immune from the business of insurance as we saw in the transplant case for the Cigna patient who recently died.
We need to parade out the adults, most of whom have some pre existing condition by the time they've reached 50, most of whom have paid insurance premiums for their entire adult lives, and most of whom face the financial uncertainty of illness as insurance companies seek to charge for coverage without risk and doctors seek a sky's the limit amount for their services.
