With a $1 million gift from The Cullen Trust for Health Care, the University of Houston College of Medicine (UHCOM) will open a low-cost direct primary care clinic on the campus of Memorial Herman Southwest Hospital, the first in a planned network of clinics aimed at increasing access to care for those without health insurance. The Greater Houston region has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation, a challenging issue that increases the overall costs of health care for everyone.
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Good to see local news giving coverage to this also. They note that 45% in
SW Houston are uninsured. That’s a problem.
New UH College of Medicine clinic aims to help uninsured, close health disparity gap
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Just another way that UH is going into unexplored and innovative territory. I love the negative comments after the article. Dumb s**ts.
Yeah the stupidity of some people who post on websites has never ceased to amaze me (not this site of course 
).
The yahoo who claimed that Americans are required to have heath insurance under Obamacare so what is this all about? I guess he did he not realize that (1) a person could pay a tax in lieu of having health insurance under Obamacare and (2) the Tax act passed in 2017 removed the tax/penalty for the individual mandate, at least through 2025.
Also, if Texas had passed Medicaid expansion like it’s neighbors then you would not have so many uninsured people. States as diverse as LA, KY, KS, AR, AK, and VA have passed Medicaid expansion. GA is now on the verge of doing it as well. The fact TX has not expanded Medicaid could be an issue for the UH College of Medicine as I would bet dollars to donuts that the vast majority of the case load will be from uninsured patients.
People always have to make everything about politics.
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The USSC calling that a “tax” was stupid. Even Obama himself didn’t call it that.
It wasn’t a tax. It was a FINE!!!
For most purposes, it was little different than the penalty you pay for getting caught without auto liability insurance when the law mandates it. That penalty, of course, is called a fine, not a tax.
About the only difference was the collection method.
That said, this clinic is a GREAT move.
I’m glad to see it, both for the people who will receive treatment, AND the hands on practice experience it will give our students.
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Yeah CJ Robert’s called it a tax because it allowed him to vote with the majority and keep the individual mandate.
Of course, it all became moot once Congress removed the “tax”. Even though the individual mandate still exists, there is no mechanism to enforce (it at this time).
However, I believe the penalty provision of the mandate returns in 2026 (like all of the individual tax items in the 2017 Tax Act). So I would bet that it comes back in some form.