just looked them up and there is literally one doctor in manhattan and one in queens listed.

Minute Clinic at CVS Pharmacy in Staten Island. R train to 86th, S79 bus right to the door.
1361 Hylan Boulevard
Staten Island, NY 10305
http://www.minuteclinic.com/en/USA/Treatment-and-Cost.aspx

NY State Family Health Plus program.
income eligibility chart here:
http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/fhplus/who_can_join.htm#familysizex

If your income is too high for Family Health Plus, there is reduced-cost Health insurance through the state’s HealthyNY program:
http://www.ins.state.ny.us/website2/hny/english/hny.htm

Health care for Artists is available at Woodhull Medical Center:
http://www.nyfa.org/files_uploaded/healthfaqs.pdf

feature article of Artists Access here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/newsletter/access-200812-artist-access.shtml

To say that “every” hospital offers free health care is wrong. Sliding scale will scare the heck out of you.

If you don’t have money, then make the phone calls now: some – not all – local, smaller, neighborhood doctors will work with you if you have no insurance and are willing to pay cash (not checks – not credit cards – hand them actual cash). Calling to discuss beforehand is what you want to do, so that when you’re sick you have somewhere to go.

Nowhere will treat you for free if you are otherwise able-bodied and decide that you’re going to move into a loft out at the Morgan L stop and share it with 10 other people and work as a barista.

The problem is proving “really poor”. You can’t qualify for anything unless you are absolutely destitute. I know, because I went through it. I started my own business, it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, I was broke in a year and a half. I wasn’t poor enough to qualify for any of the New York state public health insurance programs (which I’m surprised are missing from this article).

What hospital in NYC offers free care? I’d really, truly, like to know from the commenter above. What’s the level of that free care? How many hours will you have to sit and wait to receive it? You can’t just walk into these places and say, “Hey! I’m broke. Treat me.”

Let’s take politics out of it- the statement that there is ample health care for all who need it is just plain false. I found myself desperately sick and in need of antibiotics. I couldn’t work – the infection was in my throat and I couldn’t answer the phone. Finally, I got a friend to make phone calls for me and she got a local urgent care clinic to take me on a cash-only basis. It wasn’t cheap but I was desperate and everyone was scared I would get sicker if I didn’t go.

I wasn’t poor enough to qualify for anything that the local clinics or hospitals offered.

This article paints a rosy picture that will be devastating when someone who reads it and relies on it falls off their bike and breaks an arm and then has to figure out what to do and where to go. Or worse.

Do NOT pay for discount cards from any program. If you’re part of an affinity group – like, say, Freelancer’s Union – they should be FREE.