Jacksonville Health Insurance

Check out the latest news on Jacksonville health insurance.

8 million youths have no health insurance


By J. Taylor Rushing, Capital Bureau Chief
Unable to obtain health care for her 12-year-old son, Matthew, and unable to move out of Florida, Ann Nicholson was forced to choose between keeping her son with her or sending him to another state for medical coverage.
AT A GLANCE
-- 47 million total in United States without health care (15.7 percent of total U.S. population), up from 39 million in 2000
-- Includes 8.3 million children (under age 18), or 11.2 percent of total child population
-- U.S. has lowest life expectancy and highest infant mortality rates of G7 countries (U.S., Germany, France, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy)
-- U.S. has lowest percentage of medically insured citizens of G7 countries
-- U.S. spends $8.40 in federal money per senior citizen for every federal dollar spent on children

Figures are from 2005, most recent available
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov), Population Reference Bureau (www.prb.org)
ON THE WEB
Online resources for more information or help:
EVERY CHILD MATTERS, a national child-advocacy group that publishes polls and reports on children’s issues, is at www.everychildmatters.org.
NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR STATE HEALTH POLICY, an advocacy and resource association of state health policymakers, is at www.nashp.org.
FLORIDA IMPACT, a 28-year-old state group working to reduce hunger and poverty in Florida, has health care information and links available at http://flimpact.org/resources/healthcare.html.
FLORIDA KIDCARE, the state’s child health insurance program for youths under 19 years of age, is at www.floridakidcare.org.
JAXCARE, a public-private agency that works to provide health care to uninsured families in Duval County, is at www.jaxcare.org.


More Times-Union legislative coverage
Learn more about members of the First Coast legislative delegation
State budget coverage
Florida health services coverage
State education coverage
Public safety legislation
Nicholson, 38, of Jacksonville sent her only son to Gainesville, Ga., this summer to live with two cousins who share guardianship and got him enrolled in PeachCare, Georgia's child health insurance program. Stricken with a form of hemophilia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Matthew needs medicine that costs up to $848 for a small vial of liquid.
She sent her son away because she is unable to afford the shared costs, and unable to leave Florida because of a custody dispute with her daughter's father. Nicholson drove to Tallahassee in March to testify before a House health committee and plead her case directly to state legislators one of whom, Rep. Terry Fields of Jacksonville, was left in tears.
Yet nothing has worked. Florida's KidCare system denied coverage for Matthew, and when Nicholson sued the state Agency for Health Care Administration and won the agency provided coverage for only the first half of this year. So she sent Matthew to Georgia, and hopes to join him soon. Her 7-year-old daughter, Leeila, is healthier, but Nicholson worries for her future, too.
"It's frustrating when a mother has to fight for her son's medicine," she said. "But the price of one treatment was the price of my mortgage. I just pray every day that Leeila doesn't get sick."
Numbers are growing
More than 8 million American children go without health care, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Twenty-seven million won't have it at some point in any two-year period. Nearly 1 million go without immunizations for childhood diseases. In the Sunshine State alone, 1 in 5 Florida children lives without health care.
The nationwide numbers vary widely with ethnicity and race: 7.2 percent of non-Hispanic white children live without health care, for example, compared with 12.5 percent of African-American children and 21.2 percent of Hispanic children.
The Deep South fares the worst: According to a Georgetown University study from 2006, 43 percent of uninsured U.S. children live in the South. Florida in particular has the nation's third-worst average percentage of uninsured children, at 19.6 percent.
The ranks of uninsured children aren't new, but they are growing. Enrollment in Florida's KidCare program peaked at 1.55 million in May 2004 before dwindling to 1.38 million currently. Legislators shrunk the program in 2004 and 2005, but reversed some of those changes after the rapid enrollment drop.
Debra Miller, healthy policy director for the Council of State Governments in Lexington, Ky., sees the trend from statehouse to statehouse.
"It's too easy to say it's a red and blue problem," Miller said. "But it is a political-will problem, and a budget-priority problem."
Not the public will
Michael Petit blames politics for the problem.
The former commissioner of Maine's Human Services Department has founded Every Child Matters, a Web site and organization that advocates more government resources for child services.
Petit's Web site, www.everychildmatters.org, publishes reports based largely on government statistics about child poverty, abuse, crime and lack of health care.
Petit said polls show conservative legislatures, even in Southern states, don't necessarily reflect the will of their populations when shrinking their child insurance programs.
For example, a June poll that Petit's firm commissioned through Mason-Dixon Inc. surveyed 800 voters in South Carolina and found 67 percent of Republican voters said they would be more likely to support a presidential candidate who advocated universal health care for children.
Although there certainly are other factors most notably the massive financial influence of the private health care industry Petit said the real motivation from state to state is political pressure.
"This entire country has embraced Medicare, and all we're talking about is making Medicare available to everyone," he said. "And Medicare is a government-run program."
But limited-government advocates say states that spend more on health care are leaving long-term damage. Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank based in Washington, said such states also create scenarios in which families are "trapped" into the programs because they provide disincentives for people to raise their income levels and thereby give up some government aid.
"Expanding the programs just broadens or deepens the trap," Cannon said. "Medicaid and SCHIP are ripe with these perverse incentives. Everyone is spending other people's money, and no one spends someone else's money very carefully."
Bypassing legislators
At least one state official isn't waiting for the Legislature anymore. Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink launched a task force this summer to explore administrative changes to the state's KidCare program, which legislators had reduced by nearly 200,000 children through a bill signed by former Gov. Jeb Bush. Sink, a Democrat, said she created the panel to make changes that don't require legislative approval.
The Legislature already has funded enough money to add 33,000 children, but Sink said the program needs more advertising and outreach efforts to get the word out. The 10 changes recommended by her task force include extending payment deadlines, easing the application process and requirements and improving communication between agencies with similar missions.
"We just couldn't get any definite answer from our legislative leaders, and that was a signal to me," Sink said. "None of these things are mind-boggling things, but put together they can increase the program's retention."
Nicholson, for one, said she hopes the Legislature will listen this time.
"I remember asking the legislators back in March, 'Do I have to send my son away?'" she said. "And that exactly what I had to do."

Florida Health Insurance News * Mitt Romney

The Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney today named the Florida Health Care Professionals Coalition. This is a Florida health insurance based group Led by Statewide Chairs Frank Farmer, Patrick Hutton and Carl Lentz, this group of health care professionals will work to ensure Florida voters know that Governor Romney is the candidate who supports free-market health care reform that will enable more Americans to become insured through the private market. Will his philosphy fix the health insurance industry?

"Health care leaders in Florida and across the nation understand the critical need to make health insurance more available and more affordable for all Americans," said Governor Romney. "The answer is not more government, but more innovation. We must harness the power of free market reforms to provide private insurance options to our citizens without a tax increase and without a big government takeover."

In a joint statement, the Coalition Chairmen said, "As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney applied conservative principles to address the health insurance crisis in his state and is widely recognized as a national innovator in this field. As evidenced by the reform plan he presented to the Florida Medical Association last week, Governor Romney is the best equipped candidate to reform our health care system while protecting American taxpayers from a one-size-fits-all program that would result in increased spending and greater regulatory burdens."

Romney For President Florida Health Care Professionals Coalition Chairs:

- Frank Farmer, M.D., Volusia County
- Patrick Hutton, M.D., Clay County
- Carl Lentz, M.D., Volusia County

Romney For President Florida Health Care Professionals Coalition:

- Dennis Agliano, M.D., Hillsborough County
- John Armstrong, M.D., Alachua County
- Jack Ayala, Broward County
- Stephen Baker, M.D., Miami-Dade County
- David Becker, M.D., Pinellas County
- Ashley Booth, M.D., Duval County
- Ed Caron, D.C., Orange County
- Akshay Desai, M.D., Hillsborough County
- Neal Dunn, M.D., Bay County
- Mutaz Habal, M.D., Hillsborough County
- W. Alan Harmmon, M.D., Duval County
- David Henderson, Volusia County
- Humberto J. Hernandez, M.D., Miami-Dade County
- James Howell, M.D., Palm Beach County
- E. Coy Irvin, M.D., Santa Rosa County
- Barbara Jaehne, Au.D., Sarasota County
- Judi Katz, Collier County
- Sue Kennedy, R.N., Pinellas County
- Robert Lastomirsky, M.D., Sarasota County
- Gregory Lignelli, M.D., Lee County
- Miguel Machado, M.D., St. Johns County
- Dr. Luis Martinez, D.M.D, P.A, Pinellas County ,
- John Montgomery, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.F.P., C.P.E., C.H.I.E., Duval County
- Ryan O'Reilly, E.M.T., Pasco County
- Jeff Parks, M.D., Volusia , County
- David Paulus, M.D., Alachua County
- Thomas Peters, M.D., Duval County
- Linda Pilkington, R.N., Polk County
- Alan Pillersdorf, M.D., Palm Beach County
- Craig Rappel, Indian River County
- Manny Rose, M.D., Pinellas County
- Thomas G. Salmon, Jr., D.D.S, M.S., Okaloosa County
- Audrey Seay, Charlotte County
- Joe Sharpe, Wakulla County
- Jack Spring, Jr., Collier County
- Gary Winchester, M.D., Leon County
- Jerry Woelfel, Sarasota County

Jacksonville Florida Health Insurance Program Needs Help

Jacksonville Florida Health Insurance program Jax Care is considering its options in a new operating environment created by two decisions in Tallahassee that could bring an end to its health plan.

JaxCare, a nonprofit that offers a health plan for the working poor and is also developing a health information network through a federal grant, suspended enrollment in its health plan, effective July 1. The health plan is designed for the low-wage, working uninsured. It aims to fill the gap for employees who make too much money to qualify for state health programs but can't afford health-insurance premiums.


In 2003, the city earmarked $2.5 million for JaxCare to pay for physician care, medicines and medical management for those enrolled in the health plan. Since then JaxCare has drawn down about $1.85 million, with $350,000 set aside for reserves, and provided insurance for almost 1,500 people.

The city, facing a dramatic reduction in property tax revenues imposed by the state Legislature, is pulling the plug on the program at the end of the year. And the health plan was further hamstrung by the decision of the Florida Senate not to reduce barriers to enrollment in health plans like JaxCare's.

Dr. Rhonda Poirier, the president and CEO of JaxCare, said the organization is looking at other options in an attempt to keep the health plan alive, including looking for other sources of funding and going to an all-volunteer network of doctors.

"The doctors have been tremendous partners in this from the beginning," Poirier said. "They're participating for very low or no reimbursement, as a community service."

Poirier expects a working group, which includes the JaxCare board, will make a decision by the end of October or early November.

The pressures on JaxCare's health plan are highlighted by a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau, which said the number of Americans without health insurance hit 47 million last year, up 2.2 million from 2005.

Since 2000, the share of the population without health insurance coverage has increased 2.1 percentage points, an increase of 8.6 million uninsured Americans.

Affordable Florida Health Insurance * Bush Plans Veto

Affordable Florida Health Insurance has caught the attention of President George W. Bush. He has said a number of times in the past few weeks that he will veto both pieces of health insurance legislation, and that his administration supports a policy of tax breaks to encourage families to buy private insurance. "The ultimate effect of this new policy is that tens of thousands of children who have health insurance will effectively lose that insurance,'' said Morgan Moran, health insurance consultant for FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb, a Florida-based consumer group, in a telephone interview today.

Florida Health Insurance Group Reports On Clinton And Romney

Florida Health Insurance Group reports on Clinton and Romney -- A Look At Two Universal Healthcare Plans -- Can Florida's Long Awaited Health Insurance Overhaul Be Ahead
(Sen. Hillary Clinton unveiled her plans to improve the quality of health care, introducing her proposals to expand health insurance to all Americans. One Republican, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, tried to beat Clinton to the punch with a speech in Florida.)

Low Cost Florida Health Insurance Outsourced

Best Health Insurance News On The Web!

Low Cost Florida Health Insurance

Florida Group Health Insurance

Florida Group Health Insurance is readily available on the Internet. With so many alternatives, what is an employer to do? Recent polls taken by the Boston Globe said that "23% of the consumer population didn't realize that group and individual health plans are different". How do I get a group health insurance policy? And what are my options to get lower cost health insurance?

Group health insurance plans allow you to participate in a good policy, based on your inclusion in a specific workplace group of people. If you're a business owner, then offering a good group health insurance plan is the best idea for a many reasons.

Do you qualify for one of these plans? Many employers think that, with just a few employees, their businesses are too small. To the contrary, even a two person company can qualify for a group health plan.

The terms "two person" company, I'm including you, the owner, as one of the people. This can take an enormous financial burden off of you if you've been paying individual health insurance premiums. And, you don't need to go through too much paperwork to attain a good policy.

What are the criteria needed to obtain a Florida Group Health Insurance Policy? You'll need to show the insurance companies that you are a valid and legitimate business. To do this, you'll need to show various documents, including your official wage report, occupational license and possibly articles of incorporation. Once you've established that you're a business "group", you can proceed with a group health insurance plan--and all the benefits that it can convey!


How do you get a lower cost health insurance plan? There are various ways to reduce the costs of a group health insurance plan. You can be a very discerning consumer and take your time shopping down the best and most affordable policies. Doing this is greatly expedited when you use an online search engine provided by a reliable insurance broker.

How else can I reduce my health insurance costs? Tne very notable way to lower your group health insurance costs is through tax exemptions. Not everybody is aware of the fact that they can reduce the amount that they are taxed on by using their medical insurance plan. If you're able to do this, you can save a lot of money.

The tax code allows employees to pay some of their health insurance premiums from pre-tax dollars. In other words, they're not going to be taxed on the considerable sums that they'll be spending on insurance! This is good news for both employees and employers.

If paying less income tax and lower social security taxes sounds good to you, consult your employer. You may be able to save a lot of money in the coming fiscal year. A group health insurance plan can also be a great financial asset at tax time!

Lastly, the best way to lower you group health insurance costs is to let an insurance consultant go out to the marketplace and bring you back the best possible benefits, while keeping your costs in check. If you are searching online I'd suggest that you check some of the various local Florida Web Portals. You can "Take your web quotes to a professional health insurance consultant such as Florida Health Insurance Web." They are online at www.FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb.com

"An agent can assess your needs, explain complex policy riders and sometimes get you a better deal." (Some insurers aren’t in online databases.) You can search for agents in your area through the National Association of Health Underwriters at the web site: www.nahu.org.

Find a Florida Health Insurance Agency that holds a full product line to ensure you are finding the best group health policy at the best rate.