Hundreds Wait for Free Health Care in L.A.
Hundreds of people with hundreds of reasons to seek free medical care lined up before dawn and poured into the Los Angeles Sports Arena Tuesday for physical exams, eye exams, glasses, screenings, tests and dental work.
Charlea Williams lost her job and all her medical and dental coverage.
Josh McGrew works, but can’t afford health insurance. He needs to “get some teeth pulled.”
CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports 300 medical volunteers will serve 1,200 patients a day for the next week — all for free — thanks to Stan Brock.
“There really is a problem here in the United States,” Brock said, “it’s not just in the Amazon and in places like Haiti.”
Brock started Remote Area Medical 25 years ago, getting American doctors to volunteer and bring modern medicine to the Third World.
Bock said “64 percent of everything we do is here in America.”
60 Minutes: Remote Area Medical
His first L.A. clinic last year — his largest ever — served 6,334 patients. He expects 2,000 more this year.
“We’ve got middle class people here, we have a lot of working poor here,” said Dr. Natalie Nevins.
People rocked by recession. Mandatory health care reform doesn’t kick in for four years.
“So meanwhile, do we tell those patients to wait?” Nevins asked. “We can’t.”
Even with health reform, the most affordable plan won’t cover adult vision or dental care.
There was a happy ending Tuesday. Daisy Glover got a chipped tooth repaired to go on a job interview.
The clinic’s scheduled to go from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for seven days.
