Your Views | Letters to the Editor

Your article (“County to reduce doctors’ reimbursements for indigent care,” Oct. 19) paints a frustratingly vivid picture of the challenges associated with treating Los Angeles County’s indigent population. Physicians are paid next to nothing to provide care; emergency rooms are being overcrowded with indigent patients who feel they have nowhere else to go; and patients with real emergencies can feel lost in overcrowded emergency rooms. But an option that might help mitigate the problem was left out of the article – heavier use of preventive care programs.

By visiting a health care facility before a health crisis develops, patients can avoid the inconvenience and the public can avoid the expense of paying for care in an emergency room. California’s uninsured have access to a safety net system of community clinics – nearly 800 in Los Angeles County alone – that provide a variety of services, including preventive primary, dental and vision care, for little or no cost.

Nonprofit Californians for Patient Care maintains the state’s most comprehensive, up-to-date database of all low- and no-cost health-care providers and makes the information available on its website (www.calpatientcare.org). Access to the database is free and confidential.

Carmella Gutierrez
President, Californians for Patient Care
Sacramento