Free health care clinic in San Bernardino draws thousands

Dentist David Tefu Kuo performs a tooth extraction on Kevin Perry, 42, of Adelanto. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)

That's what brought him to the National Orange Show Events Center at 4:30 a.m. Saturday for the Care 4 a Health IE clinic.

"Tomorrow, I will be here at 4 a.m.," he said.

Officials with Molina Healthcare say about 4,000 people will receive free medical, dental, vision and other services during the three-day event, which ends today. That's an increase of 1,500 from the 2012 event, said Dr. Martha Molina Bernadette, daughter of Molina Healthcare's founder, the late Dr. C. David Molina.

"I know (my father) would be so proud of this event today, because access is what it's all about," Molina Bernadette said.

The patients came amid a changing health-care landscape -- one with a shortfall of primary care physicians despite the rising number of people who will have access to health care under the Affordable Health Care Act for America.

But, Molina Bernadette says, that's an issue that medical professionals anticipated long before the legislation was introduced. The issue is more evident now because the need has increased dramatically.

a"The country has not produced enough primary care physicians for decades," she said.

She says with the new laws in place, existing doctors will have to adapt to the influx until hospitals can hire more.

"The shortage may create the need for them to work more and longer hours and more days in order to meet that need," Molina Bernadette said.

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Free health care clinic in San Bernardino draws thousands

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