Just on a personal note, I ran into an older woman yesterday sitting on a curb asking for $$. She is living in a tent and working 4 hours a night at a nursing home. The article below notes the woman profiled has a decent home. Many of these folks do not.
Portion below; whole thing here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7321500.stm
Many do not share her feelings, but Louanne is not alone in trying her luck. More than 90,000 in Oregon are vying for a maximum of 10,000 places in the state's healthcare plan.
I think the system is falling apart and it needs some radical deep change
John Duke
Director of Outside In clinic, PortlandYet it is a drop in the ocean. There are some 600,000 uninsured in Oregon.
At the Outside In community clinic in downtown Portland, doctors see 7,000 different patients a year, 90% of whom have no health insurance.
The clinic's director, John Duke, says the lottery provides hope for the few who are picked but is indicative of a wider problem.
"I think it says it's a pretty sad state of the health care system in Oregon and in the nation as a whole," he says.
"I think the system is falling apart and it needs some radical deep change.
"This is a small Band-Aid. I think the best it can do is draw attention to the problem and maybe bring change in that way."
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