Three Madera residents will undergo hernia surgery today — and won’t have to pay a dime of the bill — through Kaiser Permanente Fresno’s new free surgery program.
Tlaloc Martinez, 25, is one of those patients. He had to quit his job as a mechanic a few months after he got a painful hernia protruding from his abdomen.
Unemployed and uninsured, Martinez had no choice but to wait until he needed emergency surgery, and then he’d be stuck with a bill, he said.
He was referred to Kaiser’s free surgery program through the Darin M. Camarena Health Center in Madera and feels like a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders...