Children's health program in limbo
SCHIP to expire Sept. 30; Congress can't reach agreement
Getting assistance
To enroll in Florida's KidCare program, visit floridakidcare.org. Participants must be under age 19, uninsured and meet requirements. The program is open to U.S. citizens and qualified non-citizens who are neither in a public institution nor a dependent of a state employee eligible for health insurance.
What is SCHIP?
The State Children Health Insurance Program debuted under the Clinton administration in 1997. The bill's 10-year authorization expires Sept. 30.
Via Florida's KidCare program, SCHIP funds 71 cents out of every dollar Florida spends on children's health insurance. The state covers the remaining 29 cents using tobacco settlement trust funds, general revenues and premium payments.
According to a University of Rochester study, most SCHIP enrollees in Florida and New York:
Are black or Hispanic.
Are 12 to 16 years old.
Live in poverty.
And had no health insurance the previous year.
Lukas Richmond started wheezing again this week.
The boisterous Titusville 8-year-old missed 52 days of school last year because of severe asthma and allergies -- he fell ill with pneumonia four times. Wednesday, his mother, Leigh Richmond, took Lukas back to the Children's Medical Services clinic in Rockledge for another round of respiratory testing.
The result? More expensive drugs for Lukas, though "he's on enough medicine to make a person's head spin," Richmond said.
Like 5,805 other Brevard County children, Lukas relies on Florida KidCare for medical coverage, an initiative funded by the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program
"It's been a lifesaver for Lucas," Leigh said.
But Richmond and others worry the end may be near: SCHIP expires Sept. 30, and Congress has not determined the program's fate.
SCHIP provides health coverage for 225,593 Florida youngsters from low-income households who do not qualify for Medicaid. A study has shown most of the recipients are black or Hispanic, live in poverty and went without any health insurance before signing up for the program.
Supporters fear if Congress doesn't agree to continue the funding, tens of thousands of poor children in Florida alone and millions more across the country will go without regular medical care or flood already busy emergency rooms, driving up health care costs for everyone. Critics argue the tax-funded program has stretched beyond its original aim and is vulnerable to abuse.
Last month, an $86 billion reauthorization bill providing coverage for 5 million children passed the House by a 225-204 vote, a measure President Bush threatened to veto. The Senate proposed and passed a more modest, $35 billion version that would cover 1 million fewer children nationwide.
Both of Brevard County's representatives -- Tom Feeney,
R-Oviedo, and Dave Weldon,
R-Indialantic -- voted against the House bill.
Feeney said he supports extending SCHIP, but Democrats wanted to expand its breadth into a version of "Hillarycare" and "secret socialized medicine" that could provide tax-funded health care for illegal aliens.
"I did not support some of the changes that turned this into an international socialized medicine program," Feeney said. "When you mix sugar with rotten garbage, you don't improve the garbage. And you ruin the sugar."
Weldon's press secretary, Kurt Heath, said Weldon supports SCHIP.
"The problem with the House bill is it goes way, way, way, way, way beyond that. You have what is essentially a tripling of that program," Heath said.
Feeney said conference-
committee politicking to beat the Sept. 30 deadline will begin soon on the Senate version, which passed by a 68-31 margin.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, voted "yes" and Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Orlando, voted "no." Messages seeking comment were left for both senators.
Last week, about 50 people attended a pro-SCHIP "Cover All Children" rally at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Melbourne. The event was organized by Congregations for Community Action, a coalition of eight south Brevard churches.
"They said no child would be left behind. There are a lot of kids getting left behind," said Sandra Pelham, who chairs the Melbourne-Palm Bay Powell subdivision neighborhood watch program. Meanwhile, the Rockledge CMS facility serves 453 special-needs KidCare patients, Regional Program Administrator Rob Bridger said, including children with attention-deficit disorder, diabetes and cleft palates.
"Loss of funding will mean less primary care visits, less preventative care visits," said Lukas Richmond's pediatric pulmonologist, Dr. Floyd Livingston. "It'll probably create more emergency room visits and drive up health care costs."
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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."
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
"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.
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.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
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.)
(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.)
Saturday, April 21, 2007
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