San Insurance the Uninsured of San Francisco Essay

San Insurance

The Uninsured of San Francisco

San Francisco is the only major metropolis in the United States that provides some level of healthcare to all of its citizens, with services designed specifically for those who are uninsured or underinsured and mandated by city law (SFFC 2010; Romney 2006). The uninsured in San Francisco match the general demographics of uninsured people throughout California -- they are largely unemployed; often female; tending to be either young adults, the children of young adults, or individuals fifty years of age or older; many have a particular pre-existing medical condition or disability that greatly increases the cost of standard medical insurance if it is even possible for them to purchase any; and the vast majority live at or near the state-established poverty line for a family of their given size (SFFC 2010; Romney 2006). These are primarily the demographics served by the San Francisco Free Clinic, as well as other clinics operated by Healthy San Francisco (SFFC 2010).

The needs of the uninsured and underinsured individuals that are served by the San Francisco Free Clinic run the gamut of typical medical services needed by most individuals, but the clinic also commonly deals with pregnancies and with child and infant care to a disproportionate degree (SFFC 2010; Daley & Mallet 1998).Health practices of the uninsured tend to be poorer than the practices of those with insurance primarily in the regularity of their seeking out of treatment and their attitude towards the advice received from medical professionals (SFFC 2010). Immigrants without legal status in the country are especially prone to being uninsured and fearing seeking out treatment or consultation (Romney 2006).

The San Francisco Free Clinic is one of several organizations that serves those that are uninsured or underinsured, and is largely impacted by these populations (SFFC 2010). Operated as a part of the Healthy San Francisco program that was voted into law in 2006, the clinic has a mandate to serve those that cannot receive or afford treatment elsewhere, and though it makes it a policy to attempt to determine ability to pay and tries to get people to purchase insurance when they can afford it, the clinic also turns no one away (SFFC 2010). Though the clinic operates with a fair amount of success most of the time, it can also be faced with staffing shortages due to the level of demand that exists in a city with a population the size of San Francisco's, especially during harder economic times when many more people are out of work and out of the health insurance.....