Free clinics

A free clinic is a health care facility in the United States offering services to economically disadvantaged individuals for free or at a nominal cost. The need for such a clinic arises in societies where there is no universal healthcare, and therefore a social safety net has arisen in its place. Core staff members may hold full-time paid positions, however, most of the staff a patient will encounter are volunteers drawn from the local medical community. Care is provided free of cost to persons who have limited incomes, no health insurance and do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare. To offset costs, some clinics charge a nominal fee to those whose income is deemed sufficient to pay a fee. Many free clinics offer services to underinsured individuals; meaning those who have only limited medical coverage (such as catastrophic care coverage, but not regular coverage), or who have insurance, but their policies include high medical deductibles that they are unable to afford. Clinics often use the term "underinsured" to describe the working poor.

Most free clinics provide treatment for routine illness or injuries; and long-term chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and high cholesterol. Many also provide a limited range of medical testing, prescription drug assistance, women's health care, and dental care. Free clinics do not function as emergency care providers, and most do not handle employment related injuries. Few if any free clinics offer care for chronic pain as that would require them to dispense narcotics. For a free clinic such care is almost always cost-prohibitive. Handling narcotics requires a high level of physical security for the staff and building along with more paperwork and government regulation compared to what other prescription medications require.

The modern concept of a free clinic originated in San Francisco when Dr. David Smith founded the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in 1967. From there free clinics spread to other California cities and then across the United States. Each one offered a unique set of services, reflecting the particular needs and resources of the local community. Some were established to provide medical services in the inner cities while others opened in the suburbs and many student-run free clinics have emerged that serve the underserved as well as provide a medical training site for students in the health professions. What they share in common is that care is made possible through the service of volunteers, the donation of goods and community support. There is little – if any – government funding for most free clinics, so a free clinic's chances of success is largely determined by the support it receives from its own community.

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Wikipedia