Turning a magazine page, standing up and opening a door was all a painful effort for 27-year-old Jennifer Spears. So, was finding medical care without insurance.

"We just felt strapped," Spears said. "I had to move in with my mom and stay there. And we had no answers, no money. I couldn't work any longer, couldn't afford to pay for any sort of drug to fix it."

But Spears found treatment for her crippling rheumatoid arthritis. She now sees a top notch specialist in a world class hospital without ever paying a single dime.

"Nothing," she said. "[I] just [pay for] the gas for me to get here, and they reimburse for that as well."

Her free healthcare comes through a clinical trial. It's an option many uninsured, or underinsured, patients don't know exists.

"I think there are people that are out there that aren't getting any healthcare at all and they're not getting any medical benefit," said Melynda Geurts, who heads D. Anderson and Company, a clinical trial patient recruitment company. "And I think this is a way they could get some medical benefit that they need."

What patients get is often a lot.

"They get seen by a specialist on a regular basis," Geurts said. "They get access to various laboratory work or other procedures that they may need that they may not have otherwise, their insurance may not cover it. And they get ongoing care throughout the trial process."

Dr. Fleischmann is the medical director at the Metroplex Clinical Research Center in Dallas.

"Patients get all their visits, they get all their medication - It's all covered," Dr. Roy Fleischmann said.

Research at the St. Paul-based clinic advances treatment of thousands of diseases, including lupus and osteoarthritis.

Dr. Fleischmann said patients are not guinea pigs. They are often given the current best treatment or the latest cutting edge therapy.

"It's very unusual for a patient to be treated with placebo more than three months, and then they always get active drug," Dr. Fleischmann said.

Trials can last for years.

Spears' is 5 years long, meaning she will get free healthcare for that period too.

Right now, there are about 55,000 trials in 155 countries.

Finding one nearby is easy. The FDA requires every pharmaceutical company conducting research to list details at www.clinicaltrials.gov"> ClinicalTrials.gov. There, patients can search for any condition imaginable and in the city of their choice.

Spears is convinced without the clinical trial, she would still be suffering, unable to afford treatment.

"I don't want to think about that," she said. "This place was just such a God send."

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com