Many unemployed persons lost the
safety net of health insurance during the recent recession. Throughout Southern
Nevada, organizations such as nonprofit healthcare facilities, medical
practices, government agencies, and retail clinics are trying to make a difference
in the lives of those without health insurance by providing discounted and
occasionally free healthcare. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s statistics
indicate that 22 percent of Nevada’s population is uninsured, second only to
Texas at 24 percent. Nevada has the highest national percentage of uninsured
children ages 0 to 18, at 19 percent.
One organization trying to help is
the Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada. In 2010, they designed a clinic
to meet the needs of the uninsured. The clinic uses more than 700 volunteers,
including nurses, physicians, and office staff. Annually, Volunteers in
Medicine of Southern Nevada provides $4 million in free, long-term healthcare
to patients who are barely surviving economically. The nonprofit organization
needs to raise approximately $1 million a year to survive and relies on donated
hours from University of Nevada School of Medicine physicians.
Another organization providing care
is Nevada Health Centers, a nonprofit first established in the 1970s, and
Nevada’s largest network of community health centers. The federal Community
Health Center Program provides grants and oversees medical care to Nevada
Health Centers. Services are not free; the low-income, uninsured patients pay
for the services on a sliding-fee scale.
The Huntridge Teen Clinic provides
dental and medical services to teens ages 12 to 18 without health insurance.
Businesses and charitable foundations donate to the nonprofit clinic, which
relies on dentists and physicians volunteering their services. It partners with
the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Dental School and Valley Hospital.
The clinic asks patients to pay a $20 fee for every visit if possible, but fees
often can be as low as $5 and, in some cases, waived.
More examples of healthcare for the
underinsured include the Southern Nevada Health District, which offers a family
planning clinic with a sliding-fee scale based on income. The district also
provides free Healthy Kids medical evaluations by nurse practitioners. UNLV’s The
Practice is a campus-based community mental health clinic that provides
services to all residents regardless of income or access to insurance. UNLV
also offers counseling services based on sliding-fee scale at the Center for
Individual, Couple, and Family Counseling. Walgreens provides medical services
at onsite walk-in clinics, and maintains more than 360 Take Care Clinics in its
retail stores, 13 of which are in the Las Vegas area. These are for-profit
clinics operated by family nurse practitioners and physician assistants, but
they do accept patients without health insurance. Costs for services also tend
to be on the lower end. A Rand Corporation study found that retail clinics’
care is approximately 80 percent less expensive than similar services in an
emergency room, and is 30–40 percent less costly than at a physician’s office.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
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