Impact of Uninsured Population, Essay Example

Impact of an Uninsured or Underinsured Healthcare Population

Group and Population Demographics

1. Blacks/African American Race, 18 years of age and under
2. Located in St. James Parish, Louisiana
3. 2010 population of area 21,000
4. Black/African American race comprise 53% of parish
5. Under 5 years of age comprise 15%
6. Under 18 years of age comprise 27%
7. Black/Colored race comprise 32% of the total population in Louisiana
8. Uninsured or Underinsured Black/African Americans in Louisiana
9. 26% of the population in Louisiana are uninsured without any medical insurance
10. Poverty rate of children in Louisiana is 21-23% as of 2010
11. Uninsured children in the United States are 9 million
12. Uninsured children in Louisiana fell from 11% in 2003 to 7.6% in 2009.

Needs and Health Practices of Black/African Americans in Louisiana/St. James Area

1. Blacks/African Americans are high risk for Sickle Cell Anemia and other diseases
2. Blacks/African Americans tend to rely on clinics for the treatment of their infant care.
3. Most Blacks/African Americans at the poverty and low income levels rely on the Women Infant Children (WIC) program to feed themselves during pregnancy and feed their infant children.
4. Most Black/African American women at the poverty and low income levels rely on the Medicaid card for their pre-natal visits during pregnancy and delivery of their children.
5. Many of the poverty stricken or low income women are single mothers and raise their children in either the project homes or low income apartments of the St. James Parish area.
6. These mothers will take advantage of the Wellness Programs offered by the Medicaid program to ensure their infant child gets proper shots and early nutrition.

The application process for the Medicaid card is fairly complicated but there are many competent assistants ready at the local Health Unit to assist with the process. The goal is to leave no pregnant mother or no child without medical, dental and vision coverage. Mother’s are covered for a short period, themselves after the delivery of the child.

1. There is a special nurse or technician that will assist with the application process over the phone and in person at the Medicaid office.
2. Kid Med is a special program to ensure no child that the parents meet the income guidelines is turned away for free medical services.
3. A child must re-qualify on an annual basis according to the income of the parent in which he/she resides with.
4. If the parent the child is residing with is receiving any type of public assistance the Medicaid Card is automatically issued to all children in the household under the age of eighteen.
5. There are participating physicians, dentists and optometrists that must be used along with certain pharmacies.
6. There should be no lack of awareness or no reason a child is without insurance in the State of Louisiana or in the Parish of St. James if the parent meets the poverty guideline. Those who do not meet the guidelines are those who fall within the ‘gap’ of not having insurance. If a mother or father is ‘unemployed’ and does not have insurance there is a very high chance the child ‘will qualify for the Medicaid Card’ unless the parents’ have extremely high assets in the bank.

Parents without insurance coverage have been known to use home remedies and make assistance plans with hospitals and doctors in the local area to pay on time.

1. The local doctors in the area very compassionate and understand those who are in need and often offer charity to those who cannot pay.
2. Those who are in need are often referred to the local St. Vincent DePaul’s for medical financial assistance with doctor bill payment and medical prescription payment.
3. It is those children that come from upper low income families that have to make payment arrangements because they are not poor enough to fit the criteria to qualify for the Medicaid Card and cannot afford medical insurance through their parents’ work plan or their parents’ work simply does not offer a medical plan.
4. Families from low income non-qualifying applications cannot always afford the medical coverage at work or simply do not have sufficient coverage at work, hence are forced to take the minimum plan and are left with astronomical bills after one major surgery or illness such as heart disease, cancer, etc.
5. Fortunately, in this small community, members often group together and hold charitable events to raise money for the uncovered expenses not paid by insurance.
6. It is quite often seen that insurance companies will waive the portion unpaid by insurance if you state to them your income level is near the poverty level that most Blacks/African Americans in this small parish face.

Jobs in the community are scarce and the ones that are not are part-time and low paying.

1. The educated Blacks/African Americans own their own business, work in chemical plants or work out of town to provide medical insurance for themselves and their family.
2. The under-educated blacks or ones with a high school education are forced to work for minimum wage jobs that present little to no medical benefits. They often work for fast food restaurants in the parish or work for cash paying jobs that offer no insurance.
3. Many have no means of transportation to better themselves to find a full-time job in the parish or out of the parish.
4. The public transportation is for medical transportation only on certain days and to and from the supermarket on special days.
5. Providing more jobs in the parish for skilled workers and educating the unskilled workers might be the solution to providing healthcare for the uninsured and underinsured.
6. Obama’s socialized medicine plan is another option to having medical treatment available to all.

References

Profile for St. James Parish, Louisiana (2010) Retrieved July 8, 2010 from, http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=3572

Louisiana Medicaid (2010) Retrieved July 8, 2010 from, http://www.lamedicaid.com/provweb1/default.htm

Cannon, M. (2010) Does Barrack Obama Support Socialized Medicine Retrieved July 8, 2010 from, http://www.cato.org/pubs/bp/bp108.pdf