Rob: Currently, nearly one out of every five Oklahomans does not have
health insurance.
A recent study shows, that coverage gap is not only costly, but deadly.
According to the American Cancer Society, uninsured Americans diagnosed with
cancer are more than twice as likely to die within five years than those with
coverage, not because of a lack of treatment, but because they are less
likely to discover the cancer early on during routine screening tests.
Bridging such a gap between the haves and have nots is what's behind a
new effort to insure more Oklahomans.
Our Brian Bendele has all the details.
Brian: An estimated 700,000 people are without health insurance in the
state of Oklahoma.
A daunting number when both health concerns and the cost to stay healthy
continue to rise.
Kim Holland: A lot of people simply can't afford to purchase it.
They are not working for employers that offer health insurance coverage.
A lot of our small business community finds it difficult to be able to
afford coverage.
Brian: State insurance commissioner, Kim Holland, says Oklahoma's uninsured
numbers rank fifth in the nation, and points out, where we rank in other
categories only increases the concern of our uninsured status.
Holland: Unfortunately we also rank towards the bottom of the list in
terms of our overall health status.
We are an unhealthy population.
We rank towards the bottom of the list in terms of performance of our health
care system statewide, and all of those things have an impact not only on the
cost, but the affordability of coverage.
Brian: Well does this also affect maybe our state's economy bringing in
business; if we are this low on the uninsured, is that a concern for
businesses coming in?
Holland: It affects it in a couple of ways.
The cost of health insurance, relative to other states, certainly
can have an impact.
And because we have high rates of what we refer to as cost-to-shift, and
that's what happens when we have large numbers of people who obtain
treatment, perhaps through an emergency room or other mechanism, where they are
not able to pay any or all of the bill.
There is still a cost to those services, and that gets transferred on to
those who can pay, in higher insurance rates, and certainly in higher
tax rates as well.
Brian: And yet, it's here at the emergency room in the hospitals where the
uninsured receive the care, and the insured receive the bill.
Stanley Hupfeld: We have a large cadre of nurses and technicians.
The technology is extremely expensive.
So to be able to afford both capital and operating costs, then the paying
patients and their insurance companies, and hence their employers,
have to bear that burden.
Brian: Stanley Hupfeld is the CEO of Integris Health in Oklahoma City and says,
while all patients will receive care, those without insurance often
don't participate in routine check-ups, and
become more vulnerable to health risks.
Hupfeld: And so, when they come to our doors, we take care of them,
no questions asked.
But often, it's a little bit later in the disease process.
They're more advanced.
They're more difficult.
And probably their health status in general, because of their nutrition and
other kinds of issues, is not as solid.
Brian: A trend Hupfeld says is growing.
Hupfeld: In the last ten years we've gone from about a fourth of the
population uninsured to about a third.
And, I think you can predict that with the high cost of healthcare, that
we may be in a situation that we simply cannot
sustain what we've got now.
Brian: In 2005, the Oklahoma legislature created the Insure
Oklahoma Program to help small business owners provide affordable
insurance to their employees.
Holland: The state has developed a means to provide small employers,
right now, 50 or fewer employees, with financial assistance to buy
insurance from insurance companies in our private marketplace for those
employees who currently make less than 200 percent
of the federal poverty limit.
Brian: Currently the state reimburses 60 percent of the premium, leaving the
employer to pay 25 percent, and the employee 15 percent.
The program draws from the state sales tax on tobacco products; and every dollar
that is used for Insure Oklahoma is matched by the federal government, yet
this program has gone virtually unnoticed.
Holland: There is enough money currently to provide coverage to tens of
thousands of people, and we don't have that many enrolled.
So we're in, we being the Oklahoma Insurance Department, in partnership
with the Health Care Authority, which is our Medicaid agency, are
really working hard to promote the program to the insurance community.
Brian: And this sounds like it's a state proactive program,
something where you're not relying on the federal government?
Holland: That's absolutely right.
I mean, we feel strongly that the federal government has an
important role to play; but primarily it is to give states the
opportunity, and hopefully the financing, to create their own solutions.
Brian: Solutions, tailor-made, for Oklahoma.
Rob: Joining me now to tell us more is our Brian Bendele.
Well Brian, how much can an employee actually expect to pay for this
type of coverage?
Brian: Well currently, they're not expected to pay any more than fifteen
percent of the premium; and for say, a household of four, their total
income, if it were to $47,000, they would expect to pay roughly around $85.
Rob: Well, it sounds like a really good deal.
Why are not more employers using this program?
Brian: I think it's just the state of mind.
A lot of small business employers, they're not thinking about insurance.
This program just started in 2005.
Word of mouth is getting around.
But, Commissioner Holland wants to increase the number of employees from
50 to 250 as well as increase the eligibility
to get more employers involved.
Rob: Now, I think it's something important to mention, and it's been
said to me many times doing health stories, it's not that we have a lack of
health coverage in our state, because we do have the health coverage.
We just sometimes don't have affordable health coverage.
Brian: Well, as Stan Hupfeld said, in America, we have such a unique
healthcare system, and they'll always take patients in.
But, typically, like with anything else, someone has to pay for it, and, it's
either going to be in your taxes, or for those of us that are insured.
Rob: Well, thank you, Brian.
To learn more about work going on nationally to solve the insurance gap, I
visited with U S senator, Tom Coburn, about legislation he is
sponsoring in our nation's capitol.
Just head to our website at OkHorizon.com and
click on value added.