Nothing is so powerful as a vivid, human reaction to a need.
The fact that so many people show up at free clinics, show up to doctors they do not know, go to a place they may have never been, go to all that trouble says something we cannot ignore.
That something is that these people who show up are starving for medical care. Say what you will. They come because they need something they don’t have: that health care for problems that are real, that are scaring them enough to make this effort.
Secondly, it says that they lack a local way of meeting their medical challenges. They don’t have a doctor, lack any primary care to speak of, even though they know they need it.
That’s why they showing up at free clinics.
As I said, it’s a statement. For all the talk we do about the possible frictions in putting the Healthcare bill into action, think a moment about what the other side is offering – to the lines in the emergency rooms – to the lines heading to every free clinic that they hear about.
Sadly, and stupidly, it’s offering nothing. Nada.
Chris Matthews