STUART, Fla. — A free medical clinic in Martin County is seeing more patients after enhanced subsidies through the Affordable Care Act expired at the start of this year and it says it has room for more.
WATCH BELOW: 'We have the capacity for more,' Dr. Jordan Bromberg says
Volunteers in Medicine, which serves low-income families, says the expiration of the enhanced financial assistance program has left many people without health insurance and, in some cases, without any access to medical care.
Rokaya McGarry is one of those patients. She said she could no longer afford health insurance after the enhanced ACA subsidies expired.
"Panic set in because you know that the only way that you're going to be helped as far as health is to go to an Emergency," McGarry said.
Dr. Jordan Bromberg, medical director of Volunteers in Medicine, said McGarry is one of more than 200,000 people in Florida who did not renew their health insurance through the ACA this year. He said that number is worrisome.
"There are a lot of things that get screened for that if they're found early can prevent terrible outcomes," Bromberg said.
McGarry said she began to see medical care as a luxury, until it became a necessity. She said she fell very ill after losing her mother.
"The grief and the everything I had like a bronchitis I felt very weak and in a moment of desperation," McGarry said. "I called and within a day VIM clinic took over."
Bromberg said only about 20 patients have turned to the clinic after losing ACA coverage, but estimates show there could be upwards of 500 people in Martin County who lost access.
"There are so many more out there that can come and see us," Bromberg said. "We have the capacity for more."
The clinic provides free medical care with no strings attached.
"I can't even express how grateful I am to them because I don't know where I'd be," McGarry said.
To qualify for care at Volunteers in Medicine, individuals must earn under $39,990 per year, or under $82,500 for a family of four.
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