Milwaukee’s Bread of Healing Clinic is seeing more uninsured adults walk through its doors — and leaders say the number is expected to grow.
WATCH: Milwaukee free clinic braces for surge in uninsured patients as Medicaid changes
The pressure is coming from several directions. KFF, a nonpartisan health policy group, reports average monthly ACA Marketplace premium payments rose 58% this year after enhanced federal tax credits expired.
In Wisconsin, some BadgerCare Plus adults will soon have to show they are working, going to school, volunteering or enrolled in a work program for 80 hours in one month to keep coverage. The recent closure of City on a Hill’s health clinic has also added pressure to Milwaukee’s healthcare safety net.
For 64-year-old Kevin Baird, a retired truck driver, the issue is not abstract. It is part of his daily life.
“I wound up in the hospital with a 400 blood sugar. My toes were going numb. I have emphysema and a heart problem, and when I was in the hospital, they came and told me that Medicaid cut me off,” Baird said. “They can spend $30,000 on me while I'm in the hospital, like today, and then they'll give me $200 worth of medicine and see you later. They can't do any more help for me, and I can't afford private insurance.”
Baird said he lost Medicaid coverage because his retirement pension put him just over the eligibility threshold.
“They kicked me off because my retirement pension is $70 a year too much,” Baird said.
Before he left the hospital, Baird said a nurse pointed him toward Bread of Healing.
“Some of the nurses at the hospital came in, and they were like, there's this wonderful place that we know, here's the name and phone number, call them. They have doctors, they have help,” Baird said.
Bread of Healing serves uninsured adults at no cost. The clinic provides primary care, specialty care, behavioral health services, dental care, pharmacy dispensing and other support across three Milwaukee locations.
Erica Wright, executive director of Bread of Healing Clinic, said patients are afraid of what could happen if they lose access to affordable care.
“We are seeing so much fear and concern and worry about people being able to afford their insurance, people being able to get the right medications, the right treatments, right care, right access — and not just to care but to quality care,” Wright said. “A lot of people are worried that they're gonna have to pick between do I pay for insurance, do I pay for my rent, do I pay for food. Everything's expensive right now.”
Wright said the people now seeking help are not only those living in deep poverty.
“This isn't just low-income, impoverished people. This is working-class people, this is people that have master's degrees. This is now growing into a larger population that's gonna be affected that hadn't been affected like this before,” Wright said.
She said some former patients who had moved on to employer-based or Marketplace coverage are also returning.
“A lot of the people who have kind of graduated from us are now coming back because now they're like, I can't afford it anymore, my employer doesn't offer the same type of coverage anymore, the marketplace is too expensive,” Wright said.
Wright said Bread of Healing has also become a landing point for some patients displaced by the closure of City on a Hill’s health clinic. She said the clinic is working with Health Connections Incorporated to help transition patients into care.
She said the safety net many people assume exists is under serious strain.
“As much as I think people assume that there's that safety net out there and that it's just well funded and well functioning — this is uncanny, unprecedented type of times,” Wright said.
Wright said Bread of Healing is working to close the gap, but the scale of the need is growing.
“We are going to be the gap closer. We have been. But it's gonna be tripling what that population is gonna look like when people are seeking care,” Wright said. “If they again are having to pick between paying bills and rent and food and all this stuff and they're not getting the preventative care, by the time they come to us they're having to go to the ER and be hospitalized more often. And so we're seeing the beginning of what this tide is going to be.”
To meet the growing need, Bread of Healing is expanding services, increasing hours and planning a new South Side clinic.
“I hate seeing their health be so unmanaged and that they literally are worried if they're gonna make it the next day,” Wright said. “Knowing that we provide such good work and such good service but not able to reach everybody — it saddens me a lot.”
For Baird, Bread of Healing is a lifeline.
“They give me medicine for my emphysema, for my heart problems, for my diabetes. Without them, I don't think I'd be here,” Baird said.
Watch: Milwaukee free clinic braces for surge in uninsured patients as Medicaid rules change and ACA costs rise
Baird said he does not hesitate when people question why he goes to a free clinic.
“You know, even some people I know are like, you go to a free clinic. I'm like, hell yeah, I go to a free clinic. What do you want me to do? Go down to the pond and start skimming off green stuff?” Baird said. “Come to a free clinic that truly helps me get up another day and feel good. My heart feels good. My lungs feel good. My diabetes is good. But it's cause they give me this medicine that I would have no other way of getting.”
He said the care he receives goes beyond medicine.
“The doctors are very friendly, caring. The nurses are — everything here is personal,” Baird said. “They're very loving and caring people here.”
Baird said he is not asking for a miracle. He just wants to keep going.
“All I'm saying is I still feel like I can row the boat. So just help me so that I can row the boat to the shore,” Baird said. “And they give me all of this stuff to help me row the boat to get to the other side.”
“I thank God that they're here, or I would have no medication,” Baird said. “I'm not trying to cure anything. I'm just trying to make it to the end without suffering, and they helped me with all of that.”
Bread of Healing says it needs volunteers, donations and community partners to keep up with growing demand. Wright said the clinic welcomes financial donors, foundations, corporations and in-kind donations such as over-the-counter medications and medical equipment.
To learn how you can help, visit http://www.breadofhealingclinic.org
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