There are several federally qualified health centers in the Las Vegas valley offering primary care services regardless of the patient's ability to pay.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, National Health Center Week corresponds with congress' august recess. With reform on the agenda, local providers are not missing an opportunity to influence the discussion.
Nevada Health Centers CEO Tom Chase outlines the mission of his clinics. But it isn't until patient Jennifer Feiger jumps in that the conversation shifts from polite to persuasive.
"I was totally lost. If anything happened to me I had to heal myself," she said.
Like an estimated 340,000 Nevadans, Feiger is uninsured. Yet the Community Health Center provides her primary medical and dental care on a sliding fee scale based on her ability to pay. They also provide referrals for cancer screenings, prescription drug assistance and specialty care as needed.
"It should be a human right. It should be a human right, just as eating and breathing. How can you have a community and not have everybody healthy and well and happy," she said.
Feiger may be preaching to the proverbial choir with the audience of Democrats. But she, like Chase, feel compelled to sing anyway. "We don't have a health system right now -- it's a non-system. It's relative chaos, because if you don't have funding through health insurance, your ability to control your healthcare outcomes are incredibly limited," said Chase.
Healthcare reform proposals in both houses of Congress provide for funding and for expansion of Community Health Centers nationwide, according to the center's national association. In part because of their concentration in traditionally underserved communities.
Though change of any kind currently exists only on paper. Chase holds tight to his perfect-world scenario for patients like Feiger. "What you need to have is a payer for them and then suddenly the vista of opportunities opens up. The doors become available to them. It doesn't mean the doors are shut to other people, it just means the doors are open to them," he said.
At Nevada Health Centers, the doors remain open to everyone. It's a welcome so rare, so appreciated, Feiger sacrifices her sleep to share her struggle. "I went to bed at 5. I was here clean, showered and dressed by 9 a.m. to support access, to support Health Net, to support help to our community," she said.
In the last six months, the number of uninsured patients at Clark County's centers increased by 3-percent. Federal stimulus dollars are helping to bridge the gap, but Chase worries that number will continue to climb.
