Opinion: Safety-Net Clinics Key to Success of Reform
The federal health reform law "raises fundamental questions about the future of local safety nets in the United States," Mitchell Katz, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, writes in a commentary piece published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Katz continues that safety-net clinics could face greater strain if their patient population becomes dominated by uninsured residents who do not qualify for coverage under the reform law. He concludes that "a robust safety-net system may offer the best chance of providing quality care to those excluded from health reform and those who newly acquire health insurance."
- "Future of the Safety Net Under Health Reform" (Katz, Journal of the American Medical Association, 8/11).