I was wondering if anyone knew of a free dental clinic around the OKC area? I have been sturggling through a cracked tooth and lost filling for awhile but just cant do it much longer. I have no isurance, am a fulltime student and with a part time job cant afford the full bill. I have tried to get ahold of OU Denistry school for 2 months now and that is becoming a joke. Any advice on where I can go would be awesome. Thanks.

It's a disgrace that the richest country in the world can't provide health care to all Americans - yes, including dental care. This is considered a human right in most every industrialized country in the world.

I will check on this tomorrow for you (Thursday), Kristae, and post back here.

These kinds of requests are a black-eye on this country and would be considered bizarre in so many other countries that simply shake their heads in disbelief when they learn we're all out for ourselves when it comes to our health care in the USA. The simple fact is this: The state of your health depends on the size of your wealth - and that's a disgrace.

Thankyou so much for any help you can provide. Names or whatever... I try to get on the computer and look for them when I can but with going to school at 8 am and working till 11 pm I barely have enough time just to do homework I keep hearing though that it will all pay off in the end though.

free health care? This is the wrong forum for that propaganda.

Yes, of course. The only propaganda for this forum is that of the big insurers, big drug companies, HMOs and everybody else getting rich off the sickness of others. Is that what you mean? The "wrong forum," for anybody who believes the state of your health shouldn't depend on the size of your wealth? Jim, you need to get out more. The whole industrialized world thinks we're strange that we have to BUY our health care like dishwashing detergent. I've heard of people coming from Europe or Australia and freaking out when they see that we actually have hospitals that advertise on TV like a department store would. The real propaganda is what you've been fed. They're getting rich off you believing it too!

No goofball, I meant it goes in the political forum, not the personal finance forum.

Personally I don't want the gov't in my healthcare or my finances.

Just the big insurance companies and hospitals and doctors and radiologists and laboratories - all charging different amounts and hundreds of insurance companies deciding if they'll pay or not? The government is only involved in the financing - as the single-payer - in the best systems in the world. Pick your doc, pick your hospital, and no suit in his corporate suite will decide if you can or you cannot have this done or have that drug on and on and on. Doctors are coming around on this as well. (See below)

Sorry. I misunderstood what you meant about the forum. Unfortunately though, in America, the "Money Matters" forum is the one that best sums up our health care system --- because that's what matters. It's just another business.

(a little piece of the article)...
The poll results underscore mounting signs that doctors are resenting the increasingly short leash on which they are held by insurers and large hospital chains, the current masters of American medicine. And, increasingly, doctors seem to be showing support for a single-payer system that would essentially eliminate for-profit insurers and curb the power of big provider chains.

The ever-accelerating corporatization of health care is producing a seismic shift in the way that doctors look at universal health care. Doctors are experiencing an extreme and relatively sudden loss of control at the hands of insurers and hospital networks, while being snowed under by paperwork and bureaucratic battles with insurance companies over authorizations and payments.
The American Prospect - The Doctors Revolt - July 1, 2008

Yes, I think "Money Matters" is the perfect place for discussions about medicine in the USA.

Very well, we can do this here.

Your trust in gov't and bureaucracy is curious. Have you ever dealt with it? It is far more corrupt and far less accountable than an "open" marketplace. And you really believe that a $28K salaried state or federal worker won't be deciding what is approved and what isn't and trying to fit it into the approved budget?

I'm not saying the current system is great, I just don't think getting the gov't involved is the answer.

Instead of waiting for the gov't to come in and fix your health, take it into your own hands. Lots of docs and dentists do charity work. Send out letters to a handful of the private practices in your area and explain your situation.

It's not me needing it. I happen to have decent insurance (that I pay a ridiculous amount for).

Jim, the government already is involved in health care. If you talk to doctors and patients, Medicare is about the only thing in the system that does work. Doctors love it because they don't have to wait for "authorizations" and not getting paid in a timely fashion; and people over 65 love it because they pay token amounts for even major surgeries. Ask your own doctor sometime....all they have to do is swipe the Medicare recipients card and they end up getting paid - same amount for the procedure wherever you go - and the patient never has to worry. Single-payer is sometimes called, "Medicare-For-All" as basically that's exactly how it would work. The government simply acts as the single-payer middleman as the big insurance companies do today. Except everyone would be covered. And sickness would no longer be just another industry.

Government or no government, if for some reason you don't think Medicare is hugely popular - try taking it away. One thing politicians do not touch is the issue of Medicare. The issue only comes up if a new benefit is to be added (like Bush did with prescription drugs). It. just. works.

It's time for America to join the rest of the civilized world and provide Medicare for all - a single-payer system that makes sure nobody's health is determined by the size of their wealth.

Oh, and by the way, bureaucrats won't be making health care decisions. That's done legislatively. They simply carry out the plan (again, exactly as they do with Medicare). The current system is what allows corporate bureaucrats to make decisions on health care - on a whim and with no clear guidelines. Whether insurance pays or not sometimes simply depends on what mood your insurance company is in that day.

oh Medicare is just so great, let's give it to everyone? Do a few minutes of research and you'll soon find that Medicare (as well as Social Security) are on the fast track to bankruptcy.

Money is finite and it has to come from somewhere, even if it is our spend-happy debt-up-to-its-eyebrows gov't.

This brings it all back to personal finance.

Who do you think will bear this burden and pay for it? Yep, you will.

The naive may believe that steal-from-the-rich-and-give-to-poor is a great solution. But the truth is that rich individual and corporations already bear more than their fair share of the tax burden. And if you go seeking to pull more from their deep pockets they will just spend more time hiding that money overseas and moving their companies overseas.

That leaves the majority of the tax burden on the rest of us. And medicare gets half it's money from employers. So small businesses like mine with just a few employees will end up matching the huge rise in taxes that will accompany this medicare-for-all program.

In concept it all sounds great, but let's think about how poorly it will executed before we jump in with both feet.

You mention the "rest of the civilized world" that looks down on us and our stupid free market health care. How's that working out for them? Quickly google Canada, UK and Australia health care and you'll see the words "crisis" and "peril" and "reform" a lot.

More government is never the answer to the question.

You mourn the fact that people with more money receive better health care. Would you have the standard of health care regulated and homogenized so that it would be the same for everyone? Do you think that would make it better or worse overall?

A simple fact of life, even in the most socialized countries is that money talks. And when you control your money, you control your health care sounds so much more appealing to me than anyone else being in the drivers seat. I want to make my own decisions regarding my life.

The consumers who have trusted insurance companies to take care of them have helped to create these enormous costs by being hands off with their charges. Just like any purchase, we need to shop around for the best price BEFORE we go in for non-last -minute procedures. Take your health in your own hands proactively.

Jim,

The government had a surplus when George W. Bush took office. Just a reminder.

Medicare is the concept. The financing of universal coverage would be much different. You have to remember that the billions we spend in this country on paperwork will be eliminated. The financing will be completely changed with a burden lifted off of business as the main conduit of providing health insurance. Single-payer is actually supported by several business organizations for this very reason.

Yes, I will be paying for it. I already do. You will pay for it. You already do. We will all pay for a system where everyone is covered and we no longer pay huge insurance premiums, deductibles, co-payments, etc. for coverage that you may - or may not - receive. One formulary (the list of drugs the plan will pay for) - not several hundred. A far superior system.

The UK has socialized medicine. I do NOT support that. Socialized medicine is where the entire medical industry is socialized - the doctors work for the government, hospitals are government owned and operated. That's not what single-payer is about. The single-payer plan for health care is simply socializing the financing of health care - one payer instead of multitudes of private insurance companies. Yes, the system would need reforms, tweaks, etc. as in Canada. You ask me to google the other countries - try googling the same for our own country! Whatever problems they have pale in comparison to our system of everyone-out-for-themselves anarchy when it comes to health care. The 'right-to-life' should also mean a right to treatment to continue with life. With single-payer, health care becomes a right (as in every other industrialized country) - and not a privilege.

Jim, I'm not going to change your mind. You're not going to change mine. But I have found a horrible ignorance in this country about how health care is delivered, and the quality of health care, in other countries. Rightwing AM radio always talks about the US having "the best health care system in the world." That's just so completely wrong. We are, in fact, way down the list. Embarrassingly so.

Here are just a few simple FAQs that answer some of the very objections and questions you threw at me in your post. I hope you'll take a minute and read them.
Physicians For a National Health Program

I'm not certain but I think you may be trying to tag me as a bush supporter or a right winger.

I'm not.

But I'm no progressive, either. The clinton surplus was on paper only. It never actually materialized.

The truth of the matter is that both R's and D's make promises they never deliver on in order to keep themselves in power.

Health care is just another empty promise.

I still hope you'll take the time to read the FAQ. It was uncanny how it addresses some of the very issues you mentioned.

As a small businessman, I would think you are ready to have the health insurance monkey off your back.

I have appreciated the discussion we've had without it denigrating into name calling as so many Internet debates can take.

yeah, I just finished the FAQ and it says a lot of decent things. There were only a few red flags that stood out in my mind.

Really? I feel like I hear about another malpractice lawsuit every other day. And since when has government ever been accountable for anything?

No one person? Liability falls only on the guilty. Punish the offender. We already have many, many laws in place.


You don't see the potential for problems there? I do.


Translation: Rich people are bad. Take away their expensive health care and give them the gov't cheese quality crap. That'll teach them.





Translation: More government jobs.


HSA's are a better choice because it puts the consumer more in control of his own health care. They don't discriminate against women; women of child bearing age are more likely to incur large health care bills.


It didn't answer this question directly. The answer is yes. And small businesses will suffer. No one is "owed" health insurance just because they have a job (or don't). It is not a right. And it is immoral to rob a person's income or a businesses profits (or lack of) in order to give it to someone else. Make it voluntary, and don't have IRS agents with guns showing up and my door demanding money.


I also appreciate that this discussion has taken place maturely. Thank you, sir.

The FAQ was well written and made some sense, but is it indeed the plan that is being proposed by Obama or McCain? Or is that group just lobbyists? It seems a tad pie-in-the-sky as well as class warfare-ish.

I have to run, but real quick......

You are right. The "single-payer" plan is one that a lot of health care professionals think we'll eventually have, but not until we ease our way out of the current system with "Universal Health Care" - everyone covered, but under private insurance - ala the Romney Plan in Mass.

I chuckled when I read your last line: "It seems a tad pie-in-the-sky as well as class warfare-ish." It made me think of Warren Buffett's quote to the The New York Times: “There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

I'm already late....gotta go. Have a good evening.

Well that got off track...

Here you go.........

I found this recently.. might be useful to someone.

New Free Dental Clinic Established:
The Foundation announced a $20,000 donation will help establish a new free clinic in Oklahoma City, in conjunction with Crossings Community Church. Set to open in late September 2007, the Crossings Community Clinic will be a “by appointment” facility for those in need - but unable to pay for their dental care. Dr. Teresa Davis will serve as the volunteer dental director for the clinic. The clinic will have three operatories with the ability to conduct basic and restorative services. The Foundation’s gift will provide vital dental supplies.

“The Delta Dental Foundation gift was vital to equip the clinic with the supplies and materials we simply weren’t able to garner through donations,” said Pam Millington, Pastor of Missions and Outreach Ministries. “Delta Dental shows tremendous support of dentists and hygienists and a strong interest in the community. In all my years in nursing and healthcare, I’ve never come across an organization like Delta Dental, where customer, constituent, and community care are such a priority.”

Crossings Community Center/Clinic

__________________
" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

Thank you soo much. That is exactly what I am looking for actually With how the thread turned into a debate over healthcare I figured I had just oughta leave it alone. I have been trying to get in touch with OU Dental also these past few days and, just like the last 3 months, it's impossible to get through. The machine that answers says to call at 3 pm for appt. So I call at 3... but by the time the machine picks up it then says the are full and call tomorow. I call the receptionist, she has no idea of even a single persons name who works in that department and refers me to the emergency line. The emergency line lady then tells me it's not an emergency and to make and appt!!!!!!! I tell ya... it's enough to make you go mad!

I enjoyed the debate from Solitude & Jim Stark! Good reading guys!!!