- No big increase in health charity with job losses, By Guy Boulton, August 8, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Tens of thousands of people in the Milwaukee area have lost their jobs since the start of the recession, yet the increase has not resulted in a surge in charity care by health care systems in the region. The amount of free and discounted care provided by the health systems has been stable when calculated as a percentage of patient revenue, even as the economy struggles through the worst downturn since the Great Depression. The amount of bad debt also has not risen noticeably. That surprises some health care executives, who expected a sharp increase in charity care and bad debt expense at the recession’s start…”
- Uninsured patients overwhelm Denver Health clinics, By Jennifer Brown, August 9, 2010, Denver Post: “A rising number of needy patients without health insurance is overwhelming community clinics in Denver, leaving some sick people to wait up to four months to see a family doctor. When new patients call one of Denver Health Medical Center’s eight clinics across the city, they are transferred to a downtown call center where they are put on a waiting list – a list that now contains 3,500 names. Patients can end up on the list ‘even if they are dying of something – that’s the horror,’ said Dr. Lara Penny, a family doctor at Denver Health’s Montbello clinic. The facility is so busy, the hospital system is setting up modular units to accommodate patients until a new building opens in January 2012 with the help of federal stimulus money. The county’s safety-net hospital, Denver Health treats anyone with an emergency, regardless of whether they can pay. That means a person injured in a car wreck or who has a heart attack will get care. But if that person also is diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, getting a follow-up appointment with a primary-care doctor can take months…”
Day: August 9, 2010
General Assistance Medical Care – Minnesota
Funding cuts strain health plan for poor, By Warren Wolfe, August 6, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “In a fragile new health program that already offers limited and uneven care to 30,000 of the poorest and sickest Minnesotans, the choices for comprehensive medical care will drop today from four hospitals to three — and soon may plunge to one. North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale confirmed that it would stop taking new patients in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) at the end of Friday after surpassing its 1,977-patient limit on enrollments. Within three weeks, University of Minnesota Medical Center/Fairview in Minneapolis is likely to hit its enrollment cap, followed shortly by Regions Hospital in St. Paul, officials said. That will leave only Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for people who want to enroll in GAMC or for those already in the program who seek comprehensive care. If all four hospitals hit their limits, the only medical care available to GAMC patients will come from hospital emergency rooms or clinics that offer charity care…”
Need for Food Assistance in the US
- Bill slashing food stamp funds worries charities, By Renee C. Lee, August 7, 2010, Houston Chronicle: “Local charities already struggling to provide food for needy families worry that a U.S. Senate bill that cuts $14 billion from the national food stamp program will increase demand for assistance in the Houston area and put more strain on nonprofit groups. Harris County stands to lose an estimated $174.3 million in federal aid, leaving thousands of poor and low-income families who depend on the monthly stipend to go hungry, said JC Dwyer, state policy director for the Texas Food Bank Network. ‘We think this is a huge mistake,’ Dwyer said. ‘The food program is the front line of hunger relief in America. With the cut, the pressure falls to charities that are not equipped to handle it.’ The Senate approved a $26 billion financial aid package Thursday to help state and local governments cover Medicaid payments and avoid teacher layoffs. And it’s doing it by siphoning money from the food stamp program…”
- Use of food stamps increases, and more people seek aid from food banks, By Matt Campbell, August 8, 2010, Kansas City Star: “Another month, another record number of Americans on food stamps. More than 40.8 million people, or 13 percent of the country, are now receiving monthly help for basic groceries as the unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.5 percent. Newcomers are joining the food stamp rolls all the time. One of them is LeAnn Ward of Kansas City, who made her first visit to a food pantry Friday while waiting to receive her initial monthly allotment of food stamps for herself and her son…”
- School lunches show poverty bite, By Kelli Gauthier, August 8, 2010, Chattanooga Times Free Press: “In the last five years, Hamilton County managed to woo Volkswagen, help Tennessee snag a $500 million federal grant and invest millions of dollars in at least six brand-new school buildings. The telltale signs of progress and promise of economic prosperity are everywhere. But what often goes unnoticed is that a greater number of families are slipping into poverty. Since 2005, Hamilton County has seen a 20 percent increase in the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches – the measure used by the federal government to determine how much financial assistance a school or school system receives for poor students, according to Tennessee’s education Report Cards…”