Healthcare services are either not available or are very limited for many people in our community. This condition has worsened because of lack of insurance for the working poor and no reasonable access to care when people are not eligible for public assistance. Care for pregnant women, young children, and the elderly is of great concern. Therefore, we have obtained physician and nursing care in clinics and home health care and hospital care for these people in need. We do so with physicians and nurse practitioners through sponsorship of Patient/Physician Cooperatives ( PPC.TBT.org) that contracts with clinics throughout the Houston Area.

The funding of this program is through money paid by patient members of the cooperatives, and from surplus money from the work done by our religious order and from contributions from individuals and corporations. It costs us about $65 per visit per individual we assist to obtain basic health care services from physician offices. Hospital care is coordinated with the charity programs of the various non-profit hospital systems and whatever additional help needed to cover these kinds of expenses is gotten through TBT donations and fund raising events.

Our Healthcare Need Program calls for individual or corporate contributions. In a year we need to raise $450,000 to support the development of each local cooperative. As an example, in a community where 25% of the individuals are without insurance and not eligible for public assistance and do not earn enough to do more than pay for the necessities of life, the sponsorship of these needy people by others will do much to cure the public health issues which affect all of us. If 1,500 member co-op is formed among the patients and they contribute $26 per month to support the local cooperative then the clinics can care for 3,000 to 4,000 people in a year. That power will do much to cure the problem of caring for the 25% who have no insurance. In the absence of public and private healthcare systems which could take care of these working people we think we have a duty as a christian organization to deal with this problem in the most practical ways possible.

Many employers do not provide health insurance for all of their employees because of eligibility requirements or other reasons. These same employees may require help from our program. In our opinion, employers not providing health insurance benefits for all of their employees should seriously consider becoming a sponsor in this program. If people are employed and thereby not eligible for public assistance, how will they be cared for except by charity and how will charity work without practical programs? A donor sponsored plan is our most practical option.