Lamont popped in for a tour of a clinic aimed at a poor, largely Latino and black clientele on Bridgeport’s east end. It’s one of 10 such centers run by Optimus Healthcare in Bridgeport, Stamford and Stratford. Lamont came to highlight his universal health care plan. The center’s staff wanted to empahsize that they see such centers as the backbone of a successful universal plan, and to pitch for more federal support.

Lamont’s tour guide was center CEO Ludwig Spinelli. Spinelli reported that demand has risen at least 10 percent in the last year alone for appointments at the clinic. Patients have to wait up to three or four weeks for non-emergency visits. Thirty percent of patients have no insurance at the Bridgeport clinic; the percentage is even higher in Stamford, because of a large immigrant population there. Recently, he said, “We’re getting more and more folks from the suburbs, from the Valley, middle class.” And a new anti-immigrant law taking effect July 1 — requiring proof of residency to obtain Medicaid — will send a new wave of clients to community health centers. Between 350,000 and 400,000 people are estimated to lack health insurance in Connecticut.

Carol Felder, director of the clinic’s dental unit, spoke of a growing unmet need for basic preventive care for kids. Even families on Medicaid have trouble finding dentists to see them because reimbursement rates are so low. Felder’s unit has cut its usual $170 cleaning fee in half so more people can afford to come.

Lamont didn’t bring up his most prominent campaign issue, Iraq. Kishore Solanki, the center’s chief financial officer, did. He noted that because of the cost of fighting that war, the clinic saw a 1 percent cut in its federal allotment under the Deficit Reduction Act, even as annual costs rise 13 to 14 percent. As a result, the clinic has had to cut back on support staff and on programs like its indigent medication effort.

Then, after feeding reporters quotes in the parking lot, Lamont was driven out of state for a meeting with U.S. Sen. Chuck Shumer.