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Dr's offices are far and few between in the Central City. So is transportation to get to the areas where the Dr's offices are. So are jobs that provide Health Insurance. Most folks in the Cnetral City really on State run clinics or the ER. There are 43 million in this country with no health insurance of any sort. Over 70% of those folks are employed, but work for companies that either don't offer health insurance or don't offer AFFORDABLE health Insurance (including that ever-present monolith Wal-Mart. 46% of their employees make so little their children qualify for health care assistance from the State.) A number of years ago Wi instituted a nationally taughted plan called Wisconsin Works (w2 for short) as a welfare reform plan. The basis was simple. For two years you would get assitance for food, shelter, utilities, insurance, education, job training, and help finding employement. Then it was sink or swim time. The only thing that can continue is health care for children, and that was only changed after a long and bitter fight. It comes with co-pays though, and a $20 copay to some making $8.00 an hour and trying to support a family on that is hard to come by. Fans of the program note that the welfare rolls have been reduced by 40% in the last 10 years. Critics point out that of the folks that have gone through it only 50% have found employment; only 15% of those are above poverty level jobs. Far more people are sinking than swimming. We end up with scenes like you see above. People waiting their turn on the curb. I stopped to talk to them...there was no where left to sit inside and they were waiting test results for the little one you see there, who has been coughing up phlegm for 3 weeks now. Just listening to the childs labored breathing I suspect it is bronchitis, if not pnuemonia. She said she didn't want to wait this long, but couldn't come up with the $20 co-pay the clinic charges. How said that in the richest nation on earth a child waits for weeks for medical care because we are the only industiralized nation in the world that doesn't have universal health care. How sad that a mother must wait for weeks because she has to choose between food and rent or health care. Hoiw sads that because their are so many people in their circumstances they choose to wait on the curb in 48 degree weather. For those of you that say you don't want 'socialized' medicine, I simply point out we already do. It's called MediCare, for our senior citizens. they get to choose their own Dr's and I don't see anyone waiting months and months or traveleing hundreds of miles for a needed surgery. What I do see are 43 million people with no access to our health care system without the risk of bancruptcy. What I do see are the 2 people above suffering from well intentioned but misguided programs like W2.