At a recent healthcare forum, Dr. Janet Albers, chairman of the Sangamon County
Medical Society’s community health committee, told the audience that even though the United
States spent $2.1 trillion on healthcare in 2006, citizens’ overall health is not where it should be.
The reason? Because, she says, 47 million people in the U.S. are uninsured and
don’t have access to the care. To combat this problem in Sangamon County, where
25,828 residents are uninsured, the Sangamon County Medical Society is
following the lead of 50 other communities across the country and instituting
an Access Project.
Under this initiative, uninsured residents who earn as much as $42,400 for a
family of four would qualify for free healthcare. Community service agencies,
such as Salvation Army or St. John’s Breadline, would help their clients fill out an application and then forward
it to the Access Project office (a location is still in the works). Their
information would be entered into a computer system, Albers says, and they
would then be assigned to community physicians who are willing to take
patients.
“The hope is by doing that in an organized way and making it equitable — that is everyone does a little — we can take care of patients who right now don’t have a place to go for care,” Albers says.
The community health committee first considered starting a free health clinic in
one permanent location, but decided that Springfield already had multiple
available resources. What the city really needed, Albers says, was a
coordination service to connect uninsured patients with medical care.
The committee visited Access DuPage, an Access Project started in 2002 in DuPage
County near Chicago. Albers and the other members saw that the project
coordinates several health centers and private physicians to give uninsured
patients care on a rotating basis. A free clinic, mental health and dental
service components are also available as part of the DuPage program.
A free Sangamon County health clinic may be an option for the future, Albers
says, but the Sangamon County Medical Society is immediately focusing on the
Access Project as a simple and cost-effective means of getting patients
consistent care.
“They go to the emergency room when they’re really, really sick, instead of getting their mammogram or their pap smear or
their immunizations,” she explains. “They get sicker and it costs more. It’s not good care.
“We want to get them in and get them established. We want to make sure they’re getting all of the things they can to keep them healthy.”
To kick off Cover the Uninsured Week, March 22-28, Dr. Dick Endress, president
of Access DuPage, will travel to Springfield March 16 for a question-and-answer
session with physicians on how the project works and how many uninsured
patients have been served.
For more information on local Cover the Uninsured Week events, visit www.siumed.edu/news/CTUW09events.html.
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2009.
