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Inadequate Health Care
Available But Not Accessible
Enrollment in a public program like Medicaid or Medicare does not guarantee access to a doctor. Doctors do not have to accept people on these programs and many choose not to. Springfield resident Judy Campbell never thought that she would be in this situation — but when her husband left her, he took her off his employer — sponsored health insurance as well. In the months since, her life has changed dramatically.
Back in 1991, Ms. Campbell was diagnosed with several auto-immune disorders that require regular treatment. Without insurance she had to pick and choose the medications she needed most and borrowed from friends, family and charities to make ends meet. “Once you’ve lost insurance,” she explained, “everything else falls out of place.” After six months of worsening symptoms and stress she was finally able to secure public aid and Medicare through disability, but her problems did not end there.
“Doctors don’t want to take you, they tell you that they’re not taking new patients or ask you to leave a message with your insurance type but never call you back.” One reason for this is the low and untimely reimbursement providers currently receive from the government. Luckily, the doctors Judy had seen regularly continued to help, often treating her without reimbursement. “But my doctor herself couldn’t afford to stay in practice because of the low reimbursements from insurance companies and ended up taking a job for the state.” Ms. Campbell continued to try to seek resources for assistance including charities, county facilities and public aid offices, but finding a doctor who would accept her insurance was difficult. “People treat you differently when they know you’re on public aid,” she described, “some even sneer at you.” After she finally got an appointment with a doctor, the news was not good. Having gone without all of her needed prescription medications while uninsured had made her thyroid disease worse. This in turn caused an irregular heart beat. As a result, her health care needs may be even greater — and more expensive — than before.
Getting people health insurance is only one side of the current health care crisis in our nation. Ensuring access to clinicians who will accept patients on federal assistance is another. As physicians like Ms. Campbell’s are finding it harder and harder to care for patients whose insurance companies won’t fairly reimburse them, it is understandable why many devoted doctors resist taking on patients with public aid out of necessity and their own survival. The members of the Adequate Health Care Task Force understood this. That is why their recommendation to the Illinois General Assembly included incentives designed to get more providers to accept people on public programs. If the state legislature implements this policy it will go a long way towards remedying the injustice done to Ms. Campbell and others like her.
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