TALLAHASSEE, FL – According to the 2006 Census, Florida ranks 46th in the country in health insurance coverage, with 21.2 percent (3.8 million residents) uninsured.
To target that population, Gov. Charlie Crist is proposing the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program, a market-based approach modeled after the Health Intervention with Targeted Services program operated by the Memorial Healthcare System.
For the three-year pilot program, Crist is recommending that $64 million be allocated to county health departments and community providers to help uninsured residents find medical coverage.
The program would enlist community outreach and offer primary care, prescriptions, access to specialists and chronic disease management. It would also help identify whether uninsured residents are eligible for other programs such as Medicaid or KidCare.
“There is wide consensus that early access to prevention and primary care are keys to improving health status and reducing healthcare costs, particularly uncompensated care costs and cost associated with ER visits,” said Thomas Philpot, deputy press secretary.
Devon Herrick, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, worries about the potential pitfalls of expanding eligibility to other uninsured children.
“The governor needs to be careful not to create an incentive for people to drop private coverage (or for employers to drop employee health plans),” he said. He said research reveals that this phenomenon occurs anywhere from 50 percent to 75 percent of the time when Medicaid or SCHIP eligibility is expanded.
States can avoid what’s called “crowd out” by requiring wait periods allowing eligibility only to those without access to coverage at work.
Diana Ernest, healthcare policy fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, applauded Crist’s talk of modifying state law to let businesses pool together to provide cheaper insurance for employees and having insurers offer a variety of low-cost health policies with flexible benefits.
“Whether the governor’s new healthcare proposals for the uninsured come to play will depend on fiscal viability and legislative approval of funding transfers,” she said. “In the meantime, he is wise to support lifting state restrictions on healthcare and to avoid tax increases. This will encourage competition and offer more affordable healthcare options for individual Floridians.”
The Appropriations Act will be voted on when the legislative session commences in early March. If passed, Philpot said the program would begin July 1st.