The restoration of $500,000 in state funding has eliminated a waiting list for low-cost medical care provided through a popular west suburban program.
Access to Care, a Westchester-based non-profit created in 1988 by several Cook County government, health and economic groups to link uninsured suburban residents with medical care, said its services have begun again for more than 3,000 people who have been on a waiting list. The delay in outpatient services resulted from the rising number of uninsured patients, coupled with cuts in state funding.
This year, however, Access to Care is getting $1 million from the state–double the amount it received in 2003. The group credited state Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), the point person for budget issues in his party’s caucus, for winning back the funding and returning the state’s contribution to Access to Care to 2002 levels.
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Access to Care said state funding is a critical source of the group’s total budget of more than $4 million, which includes a mix of public and private revenue. Access to Care’s largest single source of funding, typically about $1.5 million annually, comes from Cook County, but that amount has not been determined for this year.
“We can now take care of you. Sign up now and you are in,” Katie Barnickel, Access to Care’s spokeswoman said, referring to the growing number of uninsured. “Over 5,000 people were on the waiting list for up to 18 months at one point last year. What was so sad is that demand went up last year just as we could serve less.”
The number of Americans without health insurance is on the rise as more workers lose jobs and many who remain employed lose medical coverage in a soft economy.
In the most recent U.S. Census report, the number of uninsured rose in 2002 for the second consecutive year. That year, there were an estimated 43.6 million uninsured, or 15.2 percent of the U.S. population.
In Illinois, the number of uninsured residents rose in 2002 to 13.9 percent of the state’s population, up from 13.7 percent in 2001. More than 1.7 million Illinois residents had no health insurance in 2002.
Access to Care expects to serve 10,000 or more patients this year, Barnickel said. Access to Care lets patients pay $5 for certain doctor’s office visits, $5 for basic lab tests and X-rays and $10 to $30 for certain prescription drugs.
Effective immediately, individuals who register for Access to Care’s program will be activated after the normal processing time of six to eight weeks. The group expects to have all eligible clients processed by the end of the month.
Children’s lands grant: Children’s Memorial Hospital has been awarded a three-year, $640,000 federal grant to study the retention of registered nurse graduates.
The grant through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services comes from funds set aside by Congress as part of the Nurse Reinvestment Act of 2002, which was passed by lawmakers to address the nation’s nursing shortage.
Children’s Memorial said it will use the grant to ease the transition of nursing school graduates into “working in a tertiary-level pediatric hospital,” a hospital spokesman said. Turnover in nurses can be as high as 60 percent in their first year out of school, the hospital said, citing national statistics.