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National Cover the Uninsured Week |
Guest Column
April 25, 2008 |
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National Cover the
Uninsured Week is currently being observed. It is a national effort to
highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance
and to demand solutions from our leaders.
Currently forty-seven
million Americans are uninsured. Nearly 9 million of them are children. More
than 8 out of 10 are in working families. They are our friends, neighbors and
colleagues, forced to gamble every day that they won’t get sick or injured. In
Galveston County, we estimate that 85,000 residents are at or below 200% of
Federal Poverty Level which for a family of two is an income below 28,000
annually.
While it is not a
solution to the entire problem, residents of Galveston County are fortunate to
have two Federally Qualified Community Health Centers - the Galveston County
Health District’s 4C’s Clinics in Galveston and Texas City. Approximately 88%
of the patients seen in the clinics last year lacked insurance.
That is good news and bad
news. Good news because our county has these clinics available – many don’t.
Bad news because the demand for uninsured health is increasing and may exceed
the 4C’s clinic’s capacity to care for all, and more bad news because 4C’s
revenue potential is limited. The average FQHC in the US has about 30% of its
patients covered by Medicaid and Medicare. The 4C’s has less than 10%. This
limits revenue that helps support the cost of care for those unable to pay and
results in increased bad debt.
As federally qualified
health centers, the clinics do not turn away patients because of their inability
to pay, however, a person’s ability to pay is determined using a sliding fee
scale based on their financial status. Even such, collection rates are low and
socioeconomic issues impacting healthcare are very high.
In spite of daily
challenges, staffs in the clinics are dedicated to serving the general public as
well as the most vulnerable of those that may be uninsured or underinsured.
While the 4C’s clinics
can address many health needs of the uninsured it is not a total solution. Only
one of four uninsured 4C’s patients access specialty care -
meaning more serious issues may go unaddressed and eventually lead to costly ER
visits, hospitalizations, and eventually preventable death. We need a
solution!
In honor of national
uninsured week in Galveston County, let’s review the many myths concerning the
uninsured:
- People without health
coverage don’t work. Actually eight out of 10 people who are uninsured are
in working families.
- Most people without
health insurance are poor. The truth is that in 2005, more than 32 million
of the uninsured had incomes of $25,000 or more, compared with 14.6 million
in households earning less.
- It doesn’t’ really
matter whether a person has health insurance. Fact, an estimated 18,000 –
22,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have health coverage.
- Virtually everyone
who works for a large employer has health insurance. Reality is that in
2005, 23.1 percent of the nations uninsured workers age 18-64 were in firms
employing more than 500 people.
As these facts illustrate
and most readers know our current system of providing healthcare leaves too many
citizens without the resources necessary to purchase and keep dependable
insurance coverage. Despite local and national efforts history shows it has
been difficult to agree on large-scale solutions that can solve the problem of
the uninsured.
During Cover the
Uninsured Week we encourage everyone to become more aware of the issue by
recognizing the costs to society as a result of the uninsured and becoming
advocates for a sustainable solution to the problem.
Most importantly, take
the time to hear a story about uninsured care. It won’t take you long to find
someone uninsured. Ask and listen to voices of the uninsured. What can we do
together to help?
Milton Howard, DDS
Dr. Howard is Chairperson
of the 4C’s Governing Board and a member of the Galveston County United Board of
Health.
As published in the Galveston Daily News
05/01/08
For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
(409) 938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org |
