According to their website:
The Remote Area Medical® (RAM) Volunteer Corps is a non-profit, volunteer, airborne relief corps dedicated to serving mankind by providing free health care, dental care, eye care, veterinary services, and technical and educational assistance to people in remote areas of the United States and the world.
Founded in 1985, Remote Area Medical® is a publicly supported all-volunteer charitable organization. Volunteer doctors, nurses, pilots, veterinarians and support workers participate in expeditions (at their own expense) in some of the world's most exciting places. Medical supplies, medicines, facilities and vehicles are donated.
This wonderful corp is coming to an area that is not very remote - my hometown, Palm Beach County Florida.
My first reaction when I heard they were coming was sadness that things have come to this. When I heard they needed 700 volunteers, and were accepting non-medical persons, my automatic response was "sign me up."
Unfortunately, I will not be able to volunteer after all.
Palm Beach County, a location once associated with the good life, has a 27% uninsured rate. This number is particularly astounding when you consider that our county has excellent programs for children and persons below the poverty rate.
Palm Beach County has always had a large service industry, made up of workers who do not receive any benefits from their employer. However, many of those workers have always qualified for the Palm Beach County Health Care District and wont be needing RAM. The service industry alone does not explain the astoundingly high uninsured rate.
One thing I always felt strongly about was having health insurance. When I had a business, I never even considered not covering my employees. And back then, it wasn't that difficult, insurance was fairly affordable, even for a small business, through the CHPA program.
I will admit I used to judge people who let their insurance lapse, because, I felt it should be a top priority.
When my husband and I moved into our house, we qualified on his income alone, and we bought a lot less house then we were told we could afford. At the time, I was earning even more than my husband.
Times changed, my business relied on a middle class customer base who did not even know there was a war against them until it was too late. My husband lost his job and went to work for a small start up company, at a much lower pay. As bad as things got, we managed to keep our insurance for a very long time. We were lucky, my husband's business covered his insurance 100%, so we just had to pay for mine.
My husband's employer is small, with no bargaining power. They had to enact pay cuts to keep paying their employees' premiums, and the costs for dependents kept getting higher and higher.
We are now in a fight to keep our home. A fight that many of our neighbors have already lost. We had to make a decision I never thought we would make. Last December, I became one of the 27% who have no insurance. For me this also means that I will probably never be able to have children.
When I hear pundits say that employers might drop coverage if there is a public option, my reaction is "okay." We would love it if my husband's company could be released from a burden that is destroying their profit. With a public option my husband could get his salary back and we could probably afford coverage for both of us.
On November 21, when Ram comes to my town, I will be there. But I wont be a volunteer.
I will be a patient.