A popular low-cost medical care program for the uninsured in suburban Cook County is going to give Chicago a try for at least a year.
Access to Care, a Westchester-based non-profit group created in 1988, will try extending its service linking uninsured suburban county residents to low-cost health care in the Chicago market for a one-year pilot study to begin in 2005.
“This is a demonstration to see if our model will work in the city,” said Katie Barnickel, spokeswoman for Access to Care. “We are guaranteeing a year for right now, and beyond that we will see.”
A $500,000 grant from the Cook County Board has allowed Access to Care, created by several Cook County government, health and economic groups, to expand into an area of Chicago bounded by Cicero Avenue west to the city limits and North Avenue north to the city limits. Residents can register for services beginning April 1.
The funding will allow Access to Care to provide services to an additional 1,000 people, Barnickel said. Already the group serves 12,000 suburban residents annually.
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. There is an annual enrollment fee of $20 to $50 depending on size of family.
The decision to expand in the selected area of the city largely was based on the lack of low-cost outpatient medical services such as county-supported clinics, Barnickel said.
“It had to be an area not served,” she said.
Given the continued rise in the number of uninsured across the country, Barnickel expects demand.
According to a U.S. Census report, the number of uninsured rose in 2003 for the third consecutive year. There were an estimated 45 million uninsured in 2003, representing 15.6 percent of the U.S. population.
In Illinois, the number of uninsured rose in 2003 to 14.3 percent of the state’s population from 13.9 percent in 2002. There were 1.8 million Illinois residents without health insurance in 2002.
For eligibility questions, call Access to Care at 708-531-0680.
Hospira upgrades plant: Hospital products maker Hospira Inc. will spend up to $15 million upgrading a plant in North Carolina as part of the company’s continued expansion in the development of injected generic drugs.
By the end of the year about 60 of 725 jobs at Hospira’s North Chicago plant will be moved to the Clayton, N.C., facility, where Hospira already employs 50 workers. In the next four years it expects to add about 150 jobs at that plant.
Hospira has more than 14,000 employees at 15 manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Hospira said no local employees would lose positions. Workers at the North Chicago facility will be reassigned to other duties at the plant, a company spokeswoman said.
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Hospira, based in Lake Forest, was created last year via a spinoff of Abbott Laboratories’ hospital products division into a publicly traded, stand-alone firm.