Archive for November, 2009
An Iowa health care provider is one of 85 community health centers nationwide to receive a significant monetary boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday.
“… Funding for construction, technology and a medical home demonstration project won’t just save more money, and create more jobs, they’ll give more people the peace of mind of knowing that health care will be there for them and their families when they need it. Ultimately, that’s what health reform is really all about,” Obama said.
Primary Health Care Inc. of Des Moines is slated to receive more than $2.6 million. The nonprofit organization maintains dental and medical clinics in Des Moines as well as a community access pharmacy, HIV services and outreach project. It also operates a medical and dental clinic in Marshalltown.
Although the clinics provide services to patients who have insurance, they specifically cater to those who are uninsured or underinsured. According to their Web site, Primary Health Care Inc. strives “to find and successfully treat medical condition before they become serious enough to require hospitalization or emergency treatment.”
It has also developed several specialized programs.
The Outreach Program specifically targets populations that often fall through the cracks in existing health care.
Health Care for the Homeless is a federally funded program that serves individual, families, street youth and homeless children in a non-traditional clinic setting. A federally-funded program called Enhancement provides mental health and substance abuse care for homeless clients.
The organization has also developed a four-point program for maternal child health that consists of a combination of state and federally-funded programs to provide service to pregnant women, newly expanding families and newborns up to age 6. Their Families in Transition program, which is funded through U.S. Housing and Urban Development, serves both prenatal or parenting families up to a child’s 15th birthday, and allows case workers to link homeless individuals to medical and mental health services as well as affordable and safe living environments.
Clinics that participate in the Outreach Program are located in six different sites throughout Des Moines, placing them within the areas of the community that are experiencing the most need.
To qualify for funding, the health facility had to be a federally-qualified community health center. Grants of $508.5 million were provided through the Facility Investment Program to address pressing health center facility needs. Also, as much as $88 million was made available to help Health Center Controlled Networks improve operational effectiveness and clinical quality in health centers by providing management, financial, technology and clinical support services.
The new Recovery Act funds are the latest in a series of grants awarded to community health centers, which deliver preventive and primary care services nationally at more than 7,500 service delivery sites around the country to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Across the country health centers serve more than 17 million patients, about 40 percent of whom have no health insurance.
Most people don’t give serious consideration to health insurance until they realize how much medical care actually does cost. Many young individuals, in particular, feel they can slide by without health insurance because presently they feel great. The problem with this line of thinking is that an illness can strike with little warning, and even though the likelihood of developing a serious disease increases as a person ages, there is still a chance that you can become ill while young. For this reason it’s important to start looking for affordable health insurance while you are still in your twenties or thirties.
In Indiana, if you are single and make under $1,149 a month, you will qualify for state assistance with your health care premiums. If you make more than that you’ll need to find affordable health insurance on your own. The best place to start this search is with your employer. Ask about any group plans that you may be eligible for now or in the future. Quite often these types of plans offer very extensive benefits at a cost that is fractional to what you’d pay in a private plan. Even if you feel that you don’t need all the coverage, with the low cost it comes at, you can certainly afford to have it.
When you are shopping for health insurance from a private company it may seem a bit overwhelming. There are many choices in health care plans and it’s important to pick one that offers the benefits you feel you need now. You can always adjust your coverage in the future if your health care needs change. This typically occurs after you marry or have children. Until then, pick a plan that offers the basics. This will ensure you have coverage when you need it at a price you can afford.
Individual health insurance coverage can be acquired with some careful researching of many diverse companies that offer health insurance plans and policies and the cost of an individual health insurance plan will differ from one insurance provider to another. Normally these plans are for individuals that are either self-employed or in some cases unemployed. When compared to an insurance plan that covers groups of consumers working for a small business, the coverage for an individual is more costly .
Perhaps the easiest way to be eligible for better health insurance rates and benefits is to instead forget about signing up for an individual health insurance plan and instead focus on finding a group health insurance plan that they can become a part of with other self employed people or by finding a job that offers such a plan as part of its benefits package.
Still trying to decide between group health insurance and an individual health insurance plan is a decision that can only be made by someone facing that situation. It poaches down to contrasting the two health insurance coverage plans in order to see what really the differences, similarities, advantages and disadvantages are between the two. Only then can a consumer can make the right choice and receive the perceived health insurance coverage they need and deserve.
Individual health plans come in two categories:
Managed care plans
Indemnity plans.
Comparatively Managed Care Health Plans are cheaper than indemnity plans. A managed care health plan is a good option if you want to lessen the cost of an individual health policy. Choice is something that you will need to give up if you decide to buy this plan.
Indemnity Plans are traditional health plans and are definitely more expensive than managed care health plans. The positive aspect here is that you can keep hold of the choice of choosing your health provider. The plan is best for the people who becomes frequently ill and depend only on their trusted doctor or hospital for their treatment.
Once you have decided upon the plan, compare a few individual policies to review their coverage. The best way to do this is to get online quotes and visiting state health department laws. Check for the coverage options and the benefits they provide. In case your friends too have bought individual health coverage, discuss with them their satisfaction level and the drawbacks, if any.