Orange County's free clinics not helped much by federal health care legislation

As the hype surrounding President Barack Obama’s health care plan fades, local free clinics are finding the plan isn’t providing them with the help they need — in fact, it’s not providing them with any help at all.

Julie Hamra, co-chairwoman of the coordinating council for the Student Health Action Coalition clinic, said most of the benefits included in the health care legislation are for Federally Qualified Health Centers, which do not include free clinics.

Last week, Hamra attended the N.C. Association of Free Clinics annual conference and said all the speakers at the three-day event emphasized that the insurance legislation, which doesn’t take effect until 2014, won’t completely fill the service gap free clinics currently do.

“Just because legislation is happening doesn’t mean we’re not going to need free clinics anymore,” Hamra said. “The population free clinics serve is still going to be uninsured after health care goes into effect.”

The association’s spokeswoman, Pamela Stephens, said the clinics’ biggest need now is community support, because it’s still too early to tell whether they can find a way to receive federal money.

The local free clinic is a volunteer organization run by students from various UNC professional schools. It provides health services to Orange County residents every Wednesday night, and Hamra said the community’s need almost always surpasses the clinic’s capacity.

“We have 20 to 25 visitors each week, and we easily turn away at least that many that we can’t fit in,” she said.

With drug costs accounting for about a third of the clinic’s budget and a continually increasing rent, Hamra said workers are looking into applying for grants, but funding availability is low right now.

“Because we provide care for free, we don’t get reimbursement from Medicare or Medicaid,” she said.

So the clinic relies on donations.

Hamra said she hopes to start a fundraising campaign next year, which the clinic hasn’t done before. She also wants the clinic to be more active in helping people sign up for insurance they’re eligible to receive.

And while funding is the main concern of most of the more than 70 free clinics in the state, the Robert Nixon Free Clinic for the Homeless — the only other free clinic in Orange County — also has a staffing issue.

Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service which manages the clinic, said it has 75 regular volunteers, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.

“We’re planning a new facility with incredible clinic space, and I would love to have paid personnel to help with that,” he said.

Last year, the clinic served 648 patrons, and Moran said attendance records already show a 35 percent increase from that figure.

It provided 180 prescriptions in January and February, up 24 percent from the same months last year.

Moran, who also attended the free clinics conference, said the meeting was a chance to catch up on what other clinics are doing, particularly in facing the new health care plan.

“I’m not sure the people behind this legislation thought seriously about how free clinics could be supported,” he said.



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.