A low-income health care clinic in D.C. is preparing to close its doors this week if the stalemate on Capitol Hill continues.
Mary's Center and its clinic in Mount Pleasant helps 30,000 low-income patients without insurance obtain healthcare. Half of these patients are enrolled in Medicaid -- meaning Mary's Center is reimbursed by the government for their care. Those funds are frozen, amid the government shutdown.
"The people that have children here, they really need these kinds of places," one patient said.
Those running Mary's Center fear they'll have to cut staff if they do not receive $600,000 from the federal government by Oct. 18. Its staff won't be able to receive paychecks, or patients.
"Many of our clients have already been told not to come back to work and many of them are uninsured," Maria Gomez, president of Mary's Center told News4. "If we close the doors, the emergency room is going to be used for earaches and stomachaches."
