STUART, Fla. — John Ostrout has been battling health issues for years.
"I had a mild heart attack and they had to put a stint in my heart and I was informed at that time that I needed ongoing care from a cardiologist," Ostrout said.
Construction is his career but he said he's never worked for an employer offering health insurance. Three years ago, while struggling with medical needs, Ostrout turned to Volunteers in Medicine, a free clinic in Stuart working with the uninsured.
"This is the first time in my life that I've had ongoing medical care," he said. "My whole quality of life has changed."
The clinic is among those statewide now able to help more people after changes that raise low-income eligibility from $60,000 per family to $90,000 per family.
"[While it] seems like a lot, unless you start looking in communities like South Florida, southwest Florida, Tampa, these big urban centers where the cost of living is higher but the wages don't always match," Rebecca DeLorenzo, CEO of Florida Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, explained.
Right now, Volunteers in Medicine provides about 9,500 patient visits per year. They’re hoping the new policies will mean assistance for those who've gone without care.
"It makes access to us easier for many more people, right now we probably are at about 50% capacity so we definitely can handle more patients," Dr. Jordan Bromberg, internal medicine specialist and medical director at Volunteers in Medicine, said.
The free clinic handles everything from primary care to cancer screenings for people who both qualify as low-income and don’t have medical insurance.
"Eighty percent of our patients come from working families so the people who put the roofs on your houses, who build your houses, who wait on you in restaurants — these are our patients and they have nowhere else to go for healthcare," Bromberg added.
For now, they are accepting a maximum income of $78,000 per family.
It’s health care that Ostrout could only have hoped to afford.
"They've changed my life completely," Ostrout said.
