Broken System: Remote Area Medical Tackles Health Care Gap the U.S.

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WISE, VIRGINIA-JULY 24: People wait in the early hours of the morning for entrance to the Virginia-Kentucky Fairgrounds for free medical care from the Remote Area Medical (RAM) Expedition in the heart of the Appalachian mountains July 24, 2009. Many slept overnight  in their cars, trucks, RVs or in tents. The two and half-day event helped provide health care for 2,715 people, most of whem are uninsured or underinsured with unaffordable co-pays or high deductibles for their insurance policies. An army of seventeen hundred volunteers including individual doctors, nurses, members of the UVa medical and nursing schools, the Lions Club, and the Health Wagon helped organize the event and provide services. Organizers estimate that they provided over $1.6 million USD worth of care.