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Health care's demographic disconnect
Reported in the Daily
News
by Greg Barr
08/01/06
Read the original story "Uninsured,
Not Unemployed"
Considering
Texas leads the nation in the
number of people lacking health insurance,
medical providers and politicians often
speak about glaring insurance gaps,
especially among minorities.
Those gaps appear
to be growing.
A national study to
be released today indicates Hispanics and
blacks are now uninsured at a rate as much
as three times higher than whites.
According to the
Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance
Survey, almost two-thirds of working-age
Hispanics and one-third of African Americans
were uninsured at some point during 2005,
compared with 20 percent of working whites.
Only 34 percent of working-age Hispanics had
employer-sponsored health coverage last
year, the lowest among all racial
demographics. Working age is regarded as 19
to 64.
The Commonwealth
Fund is a private foundation that undertakes
independent research on health care issues.
Disconnected
Demographic
Hispanics, who make
up the fastest-growing demographic in Texas,
are particularly disconnected from the
health-care system and are at high risk of
missing needed medical care. They are far
less likely to have a regular doctor, to
have visited any doctor in the past year or
feel confident about their ability to handle
health problems.
“The findings are
extremely troubling and indicate missed
opportunities to ensure a healthy and
productive workforce,” said Commonwealth
Fund president Karen Davis. “Minority
Americans face persistent disparities in
rates of health care coverage, as well as
cost and access barriers to care even when
they do have insurance.”
Economic Fractures
Those disparities
are exacerbated along economic lines: 76
percent of Hispanic adults with incomes of
less than twice the federal poverty level
were uninsured at some point in 2005. That
compares to 46 percent of whites and 44
percent of African Americans. For a family
of four, 200 percent of federal poverty
level is a household income of $38,700.
“People who
live in poverty or have low-paying jobs are
primarily those who end up with no
insurance, considering their employer
probably doesn’t offer any insurance,” said
Ben Raimer, vice present of community
outreach at the University of Texas Medical
Branch.
“That means
they don’t immunize their kids or get
checked for diabetes, and they use the
emergency room as their medical home.
“After you make the
choice of feeding the kids, buying clothes
and having a place to live, health insurance
is simply unaffordable.
“I think it’s pious
for rich folks to say that everyone needs a
medical savings account — it’s not the same
when you live paycheck-to-paycheck.”
Chronic
Ramifications
Insurance alone
does not ensure equal access to health care,
the study suggests. The insurance gaps,
according to the study, are reflected in the
health of Americans — the health of their
bodies, and their bank accounts.
Sixty-three percent
of blacks living on less than 200 percent of
poverty level reported that they had one of
four chronic diseases —hypertension, heart
disease, diabetes or asthma — or a
disability, compared to 50 percent of
low-income whites and 39 percent of
low-income Hispanics. Less than 75 percent
of Hispanic adults had a blood pressure
check in the past year, compared to more
than 90 percent of whites and blacks.
At the same time,
61 percent of African-American adults
uninsured in 2005 reported medical bill or
debt problems, compared to 56 percent of
uninsured whites and 35 percent of uninsured
Hispanics. Medical bills are often cited in
cases of personal bankruptcy.
Underfunded
The current
health-care system simply does not have
enough money to go around, Raimer said.
Considering there are more than 80,000
uninsured Galveston County residents, there
is a local health-care crisis brewing, he
said, with no quick fixes available.
As a result, Raimer
suggested that it could be time to revisit
the notion of adding a half-cent sales tax
in the county to ease the burden of medical
costs for the uninsured.
The medical
branch’s financial issues have been in the
news of late when the institution announced
layoffs. And beginning today, Harris
County’s public hospitals will start
diverting patients who turn up at emergency
rooms with non-urgent medical needs to
hospital or community clinics — and if they
still want service at the emergency room,
they will have to plunk down a $150 cash
deposit.
Some Hope
Still, the glimmer
of hope for the future of health-care
coverage is already unfolding, Raimer said.
It will feature a
decentralized network of clinics and
community wellness programs that reach
toward the uninsured.
The Galveston
County Health District operates two
federally subsidized 4C’s primary care
clinics — in Galveston and Texas City —
covering X-ray and laboratory services.
Patients are charged on a sliding scale
based on their ability to pay.
And a private
company, Teen Health Center, operates free
medical treatment clinics in association
with the medical branch at five middle and
high schools in the county that offer
services to any school or college age
student up to age 22.
Nonetheless, Raimer
said, the country will have to face up to
the issue of universal health care.
“Americans are
big-hearted, but when it comes to their
pocketbook they become misers, and we know
how people feel about paying more taxes,” he
said. “But we need universal health care or
we will never be a healthy nation. Ever.”For More Information
Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
(409) 938-2211
kkoopman@gchd.org
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