U.S. Health Care Gets Boost From Charity

(CBS)  This segment was originally broadcast on March 2, 2008. It was updated on July 9, 2008.

One of the decisive issues in the presidential campaign is likely to be health care. Some 47 million Americans have no health insurance, and that's just the start: millions more are underinsured, unable to pay their deductibles or get access to dental care.

Recently, 60 Minutes heard about an American relief organization that airdrops doctors and medicine into the jungles of the Amazon. It's called Remote Area Medical, or "RAM" for short.

As correspondent Scott Pelley first reported last March, Remote Area Medical sets up emergency clinics where the needs are greatest. But these days that's not the Amazon. This charity founded to help people who can't reach medical care finds itself throwing America a lifeline.

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In a matter of hours, Remote Area Medical set up its massive clinic, for a weekend, in an exhibit hall in Knoxville, Tenn. Tools for dentists were laid out by the yard, optometrists prepared to make hundreds of pairs of glasses, general medical doctors set up for whatever might come though the door. Nearly everything is donated, and everyone is a volunteer. The care is free. But no one could say how many patients might show up.

The first clue came a little before midnight, when Stan Brock, the founder of Remote Area Medical, opened the gate outside. The clinic wouldn't open for seven hours, but people in pain didn't want to chance being left out. State guardsmen came in for crowd control. They handed out what would become precious slips of paper - numbered tickets to board what amounted to a medical lifeboat.

It was 27 degrees. The young and the old would spend the night in their cars, running the engine for heat, but not much - not at $3 a gallon. At 5 a.m., Pelley took a walk through the parking lot.

"We got up at three o'clock this morning and we got here about four. We've been out where a little while it's cold," Margaret Walls, a hopeful patient from
Tennessee, told Pelley.

"Why did you come so early?" Pelley asked.

"'Cause we wanted to be seen," Walls replied.

Marty Tankersley came with his wife and his daughter, asleep behind the front seats. Tankersley says he drove some 200 miles to get to the clinic and slept in the parking lot for hours.

"Just to have this done?" Pelley asked.

"Yes, sir. I've been in some very excruciating pain," he replied.

Tankersley had an infected tooth that had been killing him for weeks. Most of the people who filled the lot heard about the clinic on the news or by word of mouth, and they came by the hundreds.

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[mt1878]

This story was so bogus. Sure there are people without healthcare, however many choose to not pay for it.

Take the truck driver in the story, a family of five with health insurance, his problem was an infected tooth and he complained that he has a $500 deductable.

First any discount Dentist will pull a tooth for $100. Second a $500 deductable represents less than $10 a week. This guy with a good job and health insurance can''t budget $10 a week??? But he can drive 200 miles back and forth to get free health care. My calculation of the gas cost is $80 alone for the gas for this trip assuming a 20mpg vehicle. It probably was not, it probably was an SUV. Did he stop for Starbucks on the way, and do the three kids have cell phones?????????

I could go on, such as the woman with bad eyes who drove 100 miles each way t get free glasses when she could go to WalMart, Costco, or BJ''s and get discount glasses for slightly more than the $40 in gas she spent.

But the real issue here is the Doom and Gloom that CBS 60 minutes spews at every oppotunity. Seems like Dan Rather never left...........

[ben916]

The entire segment make me appreciate that I have excellent healthcare and dental care.
At the same time, it angered me that there are illegals, specifically Mexicans, that cross the US border, have their kids in the US and then suck/sap/leach away at medical/dental resources that are entitled to taxpaying LEGAL American citizens.
These are the same people that are "picking the food that US workers will not perform".
They don''t pay a dime or centavo to the US for this free care and then we get screwed on picking up the bill.
We don''t see the Canadians rushing into the US for free healthcare? Why? Because CA, AZ, NM and TX "tolerate" this behavior.
It is no wonder that the segment highlighted the healthcare shortcomings of the USA.
Once again, the middle class takes it in the shorts...

[dmchugh70]

Medical program and my heart went out to the people on the show. It seems so wrong that our country abandons many of its people in need. Stop by our web site "The Healthcare Coverage Post" for more updates on the RAM program (www.healthcoveragepost.com)

[ashlove3]

I find myself in the same sitution as these folks. I recently had to cancell my health insurance because I needed the money to pay for the higher cost of everything else. I pray that I don''t get sick and if I would get sick I pray that GOD takes me quick so I don''t have the hopsital bills to worry about. As a 50 yr. old single female the thought of becoming sick scares the heck out of me. Why can''t our goverment who we put in office think of the American taxpayers first instead of rest of the world first. As others have said we need to take care of the American people instead of the rest of the world. We are becoming a third world country. Is this a way to control the American people? Keep us poor and unhealth. Micheal Moore did and interesting movie called Sicko which makes you think.People have said no to Universal Health care like they have in Canada and Europe because the feel the care will be poor. Watch this movie it will open your eyes. I don''t think it would be as bad as you think. I wouldn''t mind paying for this.Having insurance I still couldn''t offer to go to the doctor. I would rather take that and put the money to health care for all at least I wouldn''t feel I was wasting the money coming out of my check and nothing being paid any way. But the health industry and the insurance companies don''t want it to happen because they won''t make much money.

[marshall0621]

Am I missing something here ? What about Medicaid ? Of course not all, but many, even most, of the working poor should qualify for Medicaid. Yes, I know not all Medicaid plans in all states carry dental - or other specific services. But, I hate to hear some say that this country is not taking care of it''s own, or doing anything about health care, when our tax dollars ARE doing something - it''s called Medicaid - as well as the individual state''s SCHIP plans for children and/or familes that have too much income for Medicaid.

[noblesteresa]

The entire segment broke my heart. There are so many people in the same boat as the people being treated by RAM. The real tear jerker was the lady having her eyes examed with her comment "We live in the riches country in the world, and can''t have health care for all" How much is being spent on the war each and every day??? Can''t anyone in Washington see that there is something wrong with this picture??? When on earth is America going to take care of AMERICA??

[f12944]

I think that you missed the big story about our lack of health care. I would really like to have known how many of those people without insurance plan on voting for politians that will try to change our current health care system. The people that I know that don''t have insurance still vote republican! That is truly amazing to me.

[bamablue20]

I am also caught up in the Health Care Provider Non Payment. I have a problem with Verdigo, have been diagnoised with Verdigo, but I need an MRI, the town I live in can give me this MRI, but it will cost me $1000.00 out of my purse, the insurance company pays $50.00. So I have been waiting for a decision from the Insurance company (I Med Health/ IAB). At this point I have not been able to have the MRI because of the out of pocket cost, therefore the Specialist that I am dealing with can not diagnois me properly.
I pay for this insurance and then the insurance company wants to tell me where I can go to have this MRI done. Is this the American way? You pay for this insurance and then they want you to wait until
the insurance company gives you the okey to go have the medical problem evaluated. At this time it has been 3 weeks since I had the severe episode of Vertigo. I need the MRI so the Physician can properly diagnois the problem.

[dentonclan]

This story only touches the surface. Even for those fully insured, the system finds ways to weed out those with chronic illnesses. Our son has continual headaches from lyme disease. Unfortunately, he was misdiagnosed and treated for migraine for six years before we finally gave up on neurologists and tried an "alternative" doctor, who promptly diagnosed him with lyme and other coinfections. We were astonished to find that "chronic lyme disease" is not recognized by the Infectious Disease Society of America and the CDC. The CDC holds to the position that lyme disease is readily curable with four weeks of antibiotics; yet, any lyme patient who has had the disease for any length of time will tell you this is not the case. The CDC position means that most physicians either will not treat lyme or will show you the door if you are not cured after four weeks of antibiotics. Physicians willing to treat patients with long-term antibiotic therapy risk losing their licenses. Insurance companies, of course, will not cover treatment protocols that do not follow CDC guidelines. Many families paying out-of-pocket to get treatment are slowly bankrupting themselves. Lyme is a national epidemic, and anyone who spends any time outdoors is susceptible. We need funding for research, but we particularly need the press to examine the controversy, and particularly the CDC, so that guidelines can be updated and doctors will be free to treat the disease as it should be treated.

[curiuos7]

The 60 minutes report on healthcare is a very accurate portrayal of the the demise of health care in America. Only those with good paying jobs get it, and only until they have a serious illness and the health insurers decide to kick them out for profits. This could change if a serious look was taken at how to fund these people. If we keep the population healthy like other countries do then we will have more productive people who will try to stay out of hospitals. The young woman who did not follow up on her cancer did not do for one main reason, she could not afford to be tested and was not offered any backup plan. Testing can cost thousands of dollars to locate cancer, yet people with it are considered unfavorable by insurance companies. No one wants to be sick but people put off going to the doctor because of the high cost of doing it and the fear of finding a serious illness that they cannot afford. Unless there is a new approach to health care in this country and that is to keep people healthy by creating a sane health business plan that covers costs and does not penalize people who want to improve their health. It is also too diverse and complicated . No one seems to understand it and what their money really pays for in health insurance plans. It is time to change all of that before a full blown health crisis erupts. And thanks to RAM for having the intelligence to recognize the problem.