In these perilous times when Americans tremble with fear that socialized medicine will soon mark the end of this great experiment in liberty we call home, Dr. Carlos Vargas has a good idea. He is creating a health clinic in Franklin to assist people with and without insurance. The clinic will not operate on grants. Instead, the paying patients will subsidize those who don’t pay – gladly and willingly.
Vargas got the idea from St. Luke’s Family Practice in Modesto, CA. People, known up-front as “benefactors,†contract for a year of healthcare, paying on an age-based sliding scale. Any money they don’t use on themselves by the end of the year goes to pay for those who can’t pay – like poor people with cost-prohibitive pre-existing medical conditions. Vargas will volunteer his time and resources to make up for any shortfalls in funding.
Vargas is a Catholic, who says charity is part of his faith. Visits will be scheduled so Vargas can spend quality time with patients, rather than just processing them. The typical benefactors, however, will likely sign up more as an opportunity to do good than to realize any personal gains. The unused portion of their contract amount is considered a donation, for which the truly charitable have an opportunity to perform another good deed by shrinking government with a tax write-off.
If that isn’t enough, there’s a good chance Vargas will model his clinic after St. Luke’s in not providing free medical practices to which the benefactors are likely to object and that feed the decline of moral society.
