May 2, 2006
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Focuses Attention on "Cover the Uninsured Week"
by Graham Bailey, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas
During the first week of May a national effort called “Cover the Uninsured Week” aims at focusing attention on issues facing the more than 46 million Americans who do not have health insurance.
Among those millions of Americans are approximately 300,000 Kansans – about one in 10 – who are denied the easy access to health care services that comes with an insurance card. It might surprise you to know who the uninsureds are in our state.
According to Healthy Kansas, approximately 95 percent of our state’s uninsureds live in a household where someone is employed. The majority work for small businesses with less than 50 employees and they make less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $40,000 for a family of four. More than 56 percent of those without insurance say they go without it because they cannot afford the premiums, according to Kansas Health Insurance Study 2001.
Because they have less access to the health care services that many of us take for granted, uninsured Kansans often put their health at risk by delaying treatment until their condition worsens. Often times, when they do seek service, the cost of providing those services is shifted to those who have health insurance.
We believe that there are private sector solutions to lifting the burden that uninsured Kansans place on our state’s health care delivery system and, ultimately, to improving their overall health.
First, we encourage businesses and individuals to offer financial support to their local primary care or community health centers. These clinics are challenged to serve an increasing number of clients on budgets that are already stretched to the limits. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation donated $20,500 to 21 such clinics across the state at the end of 2005 in order to provide such assistance.
Second, BCBSKS is proud to work closely with health care professionals and hospitals to offer Value Blue, a new, low-cost, community-orientated health insurance plan aimed at giving uninsured Kansans an affordable option. Value Blue is available to those Kansans who have not had health insurance for the past 12 months and who have an annual gross household income at or below 200 percent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty level.
To make Value Blue possible for income-eligible Kansans, thousands of contracting health care providers are partnering with us to help keep premiums as low as possible, roughly 50 percent less than our other products. To accomplish this, BCBSKS has not included a fee for administration in the Value Blue premium and will not charge for the substantial costs associated with developing and promoting this program while contracting providers have agreed to accept smaller allowances for services they provide.
We are proud that the Kansas Medical Society, Kansas Hospital Association and Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger have endorsed Value Blue, and that so many hospitals and health care professionals are working with us to find a private sector solution to help uninsured Kansans.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. BCBSKS is the state's largest health insurer, serving all Kansas counties except Johnson and Wyandotte.
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