- November 19, 2024
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The Flagler County Free Clinic has expanded its hours because of high demand and an increased number of medical providers volunteering their time to help.
“You hate to have people standing in line for a walk-in clinic at 4 or 4:30 in the morning, but it seems there’s always at least somebody there,” said Michaelyn Milidantri, a Free Clinic volunteer and vice–president of the clinic’s board.
The clinic is now open for patients with appointments the first four Thursdays of each month, and for walk-in patients on the first and third Saturday of each month, Milidantri said.
It has about 100 medical providers — doctors, nurses, dentists and “the whole gamut of medical professionals” — who volunteer their time to help, she said.
The clinic serves people with no health insurance who make less than 200% of the federal poverty level, which is currently $11,670 for a single person or $23,850 for a family of four.
Demand still high after health care act coverage begins
The Flagler County Free Clinic has not had a noticeable drop in patients since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, Milidantri said.
Part of the reason, she said, might be that people below the poverty line don’t qualify for Affordable Care Act tax credits that are available to low-income people above the poverty line.
“If people earn less than about $15,300, the idea was that they’d be eligible for Medicaid,” she said. “But Florida did not expand the Medicaid program, so they don’t qualify for the benefits.”
The health care law provides tax credits to reduce the monthly premiums of people making between the poverty level and four times the poverty level. It provides no tax credits for people making below the poverty level, who, under the act, were supposed to be covered by an expanded Medicaid program. But in a ruling that upheld the health care law, the Supreme Court also ruled that states could not be forced to expand Medicaid, and many, including Florida, did not.
And plenty of local people making less than the poverty level, but who are not eligible for Medicaid, are still streaming into the Free Clinic.
“We are trying to open up more and more to see additional patients,” Milidantri said. “It’s an ongoing goal, to be able to help out more often.”
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The Flagler County Free Clinic is located at 700 State Road 100 in Bunnell.
For more information, go to flaglercountyfreeclinic.com. To make an appointment, call 437-3091.
The clinic needs general volunteers for miscellaneous tasks, and dental assistant volunteers to help with tooth extractions on Friday afternoons. For information on volunteering, call 437-3091 or visit flaglercountyfreeclinic.com/pdfs.html.
