• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Millions in Free Care Provided to Uninsured: Local Doctors and Hospital Officials Say Lack of Health Insurance Demands the Attention of Legislators.

Posted on: Friday, 5 May 2006, 12:02 CDT

By Emily Berry, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

May 5--Local health providers gave more than $6.5 million in free medical care in the past two years through Chattanooga's Project Access, program sponsors said Thursday.

Physicians and hospital leaders said they are proud of the work, but lack of available health insurance remains an issue around the country and demands the attention of elected officials.

"This is a national problem, and it requires a national solution," said Dr. Mark Brzezienski, Chattanooga & Hamilton County Medical Society president.

Project Access partners, including the medical society and three Chattanooga hospitals, hosted a news conference to announce the data in observation of Cover the Uninsured Week.

Cover the Uninsured Week calls attention to Americans without health insurance and is sponsored in part by the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Erlanger hospital, Memorial Hospital and Parkridge Medical Center, along with other medical facilities, have donated about $5.4 million in services since Project Access started enrolling patients in April 2004, Dr. Joe Cofer, Project Access chairman, said.

More than 400 physicians have provided care worth about $1.1 million, he said.

Hospitals have donated services such as laboratory testing, staff services and space for surgery, he said.

"We simply couldn't be doing this without them," Dr. Cofer said.

About 640 people have received care through Project Access, and another 572 are enrolled in the program and are receiving treatment or awaiting appointments, Dr. Cofer said.

A $1.8 million three-year federal grant and seed money donated by hospitals and the medical society are funding Project Access' operating costs. The grant is set to expire at the end of the year, Rae Bond, Project Access executive director, said.

Program leaders will begin searching for permanent funding from corporate donors and other local sources in the next year, she said.

Erlanger CEO Jim Brexler said problems related to lack of insurance got worse in 2005 when an estimated 11,200 people in Hamilton County lost TennCare. The problem will not go away, he said.

"This is probably greater than any one voluntary effort can do," he said.

Ms. Bond said Gov. Phil Bredesen's Cover Tennessee proposal probably would not eliminate the need for Project Access. Cover Tennessee is structured to focus on primary and preventative care, while Project Access has arranged for mostly specialty care after a medical problem has developed.

E-mail Emily Berry at eberry@timesfreepress.com FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information, call (423) 826-0269. For more information about Cover the Uninsured Week, visit www.CovertheUninsured.org

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Chattanooga Times/Free Press

More News in this Category