Welcome to sick season.
According to the CDC, New York City — along with New Jersey and at least 16 other states — is now experiencing “high” to “very high” levels of respiratory-illness activity as measured by the number of weekly visits to health-care providers and emergency rooms by people having symptoms of fever, cough, and sore throat.
The culprits are the usual suspects: this year’s strains of influenza, COVID, and RSV. And though flulike-illness levels have been above baseline nationally for several consecutive weeks, the CDC warns that we still haven’t hit the peak.
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As always, seniors remain the most at-risk demographic for severe outcomes from respiratory illnesses, which is why the low vaccination rates for that group remain troubling.
Beyond vaccination, for everyone, the best way to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses like the flu and RSV is regular handwashing; avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth; and staying home if you get sick. High-filtration face masks still work great, too, and not just for avoiding COVID.
Urgent care here requires insurance. There is no medical center here, so I can’t speak for those. The fact that there isn’t one here, however, suggests that they are not a good solution. The ER does not require insurance anywhere. Poor people here who have no insurance go to the ER. All the time. I’ve been in the ER three times this year so far (I do have insurance) and there are always people there who have no insurance who need to be seen for something medically that could have been taken care at the urgent care who won’t see them.
Furthermore, there should, in fact, be universal healthcare.
So what did I get wrong?
I have never heard of any medical practice that would not see patients without insurance. I have been to several of them with no insurance personally.
Here is a link that proves you are wrong:
https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/why-choose-us/walk-in-clinic-cost-no-insurance
EDIT: See also - https://www.healthcare.gov/community-health-centers/
Guess what also isn’t offered here? A walk-in clinic at CVS.
So I’m not sure how that proves me wrong.
Here’s another link for you, but you probably just want to argue by splitting hairs or something so good luck with your ER bills.
https://www.healthcare.gov/community-health-centers/
CVS’s link was simply an example, you should have several options in any city for a walk-in clinic if you look around. The community health center thing is nationwide and government funded.