A woman walks into the Community Healthcare Network’s Long Island City Health Center in Queens, N.Y., this month. This community health center is one of more than 1,300 across the country that serve patients regardless of their background or ability to pay. (Photo by Shalina Chatlani/ Stateline)

NEW YORK — On a busy street in Queens, New York, just around the corner from a halal hot chicken sandwich restaurant and a barber shop, the Long Island City Health Center welcomes its patients into a brightly lit waiting room, painted baby blue and filled with soft white and gray seats.

A woman working behind the desk on a recent weekday answered one patient’s questions in Spanish. Other patients came dressed in hijabs, kurtas or other traditional clothing from countries around the globe. A casew

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