Free Republic

The Affordable Care Act is spelling the demise of free healthcare clinics across the country, The Wall Street Journal reports. Of clinics across 28 states, almost a dozen in the past two years have cited Obamacare as their reason for shutting their doors. Both The Good Samaritan Free Clinic in Rock Island, Illinois, and the Ninth Street Ministries Free Medical Clinic in Polk County, Arkansas, shut their doors this year saying their missions were complete. Now that most of their former clients have medical insurance, many through expanded Medicaid, they are no longer needed, they say. …

When the Affordable Care Act became law, Sandra Lozano looked forward to the day when the patients who rely on her free health clinic in Fort Lauderdale would be covered. But even though the new healthcare marketplace has finally launched, at the Light of the World clinic, it’s like the ACA never happened. “We’re seeing a tremendous increase in people coming to us,” said Lozano, executive director at the clinic, where applications for charitable care are up 25 percent since October. From Miami to Key West, other free and low-cost clinics say they’ve seen little impact from Obamacare — no...