Volunteers In Medicine, Wilkes-Barre PA

This place is a joke. Not a true free walk-in clinic. Below are the reasons why.
1. You have to call ahead of time just to schedule a phone interview application first for there services. After that they send you more paperwork though the mail to fill out and send back to them before they even consider or approve you as a patient. This usually takes at least 2 weeks so they do not provide immediate medical attention.

2. They ask you a a ton of questions over the phone ranging from finances including household income and personal confidential information like medical records and social security numbers. So if you're not comfortable giving that over the phone you might have a problem because they try to get all the information out of you over the phone.

3. If you get approved to be one of their patients you still just can't walk in the door you have to call ahead of time and schedule appointment. Also when you arrive there you have to provide ID, proof of household income, and etc.

4. They deliberately try tactics to get your social security number which by law you do not have to provide unless it's a government-funded program which it's not. Even my primary care physician doesn't have my social security number.

5. They try to pull your medical records from your primary care physician because it's easier to make a diagnosis based off your medical records than actually do their job and try to find out the reason you're sick.

6. Not for unemployed.they say they're for the unemployed worker but they are not. They run your annual household income and other finances first. If they determine that you are eligible for medical assistance through the state they force you or mandate you to apply for medical assistance at the county assistance office first before using their services. Otherwise they might deny you as a patient. They self-proclaim that this is a service provided to only those who are unemployed but make over the maximum threshold to be approved for medical assistance. If you are eligible for medical assistance they will deny you as a patient. If you are approved to be a patient of theirs it is mandatory that you show proof that you're looking for a job while receiving their services as being unemployed. This is contradictive due to the federal cares act (aka 2020 covid relief package) in Pennsylvania where the government literally said you are no longer obligated to comply to a job search or provide evidence of a job search during the pandemic. What that means is if the Pennsylvania government does not require me to show proof I'm looking for a job then why would I show them proof that I'm looking for a job.

7. They do not understand the words of 2 different separate households under the same roof. For example it's like two different people as separate tenants under a landlord's roof. Even though both tenants live in a landlord's house for example they're both only responsible for their own financing and household income. Because of this they are considered each their own separate individual. When they ask you for household income they mean the whole house and everybody in it even if that includes your co-tenants income.

8. They act more like a referral service for medical services to be provided elsewhere than they do a free clinic.

9. If you get Medicare or Medicaid then you don't qualify for approval and will be denied services provided by them. Also if you make over $40,000 a year in annual total household income you do not qualify and you will also be denied services provided by them.

10. This clinic and it's doctors violate The Hippocratic Oath they took when they became doctors in the first place.