Yes – you read that headline correctly. A free clinic in Tacoma closed down in January and
it is good news. Talking Points Memo reports that the clinic shut its doors largely because the patients it served since opening in 2009 could finally get medical care elsewhere.
Way back in June of 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, the team at the RotaCare Clinic came up with a plan to sign-up all of their patients for health coverage.When open enrollment began in October of last year, they were ready. They enlisted a few social workers to help sign patients up for health insurance.
…By January, almost every one of their roughly 150 charges had either enrolled through Obamacare or gotten a job with coverage. A few undocumented immigrants were transferred to another program run by the local medical society. They stocked up their other patients with three months’ worth of their prescribed medications to ensure they would be properly cared for until they could schedule an appointment with their new doctor.
Runbeck recalled one middle-aged woman, a type I diabetic, who had gotten enrolled in expanded Medicaid, one of 285,000 Washingtonians to do so. At the same time, she was finishing up a course at a community college job training program. The last time she saw her, Runbeck said, the woman was pledging to volunteer at a free clinic as soon as she could.
The piece adds that, while the Rotacare Clinic is no longer needed, there is still a huge need for the services offered through free clinics “…particularly in states without expanded Medicaid and areas with a large number of undocumented immigrants who can’t get coverage under the law.”
You can read the full report here.