Thanks to the hard work of an unprecedented coalition of more than 200 community leaders, Orange County is zeroing in on innovative strategies to address the plight of the uninsured. As the new year dawns, Access for Health caps six months of intensive committee work, focusing on small business insurance options, affordable prescription drugs, better integrated and culturally-tuned clinical care, and faster access to patient information. 

Access for Health was launched last June with a community call to action, the formation of workgroups, and is set to release recommendations in early 2003.  The Winter Park Health Foundation is underwriting the community dialogue and planning process. The broad-based coalition is comprised of local hospitals and health providers, business leaders, caregivers, and representatives from the faith community, along with local government and community agencies. 

A key focus is tackling the problem facing small businesses unable to provide coverage for their workers, and low-income workers who can’t afford healthcare coverage even when it’s available.  More than half of Orange County’s uninsured residents are working, and many more are underinsured.  The costs to the community are staggering. “We all pay a high price for the uninsured, through ever-higher insurance premiums, lives cut short when treatable diseases go undiagnosed, and longer waits in already overcrowded emergency rooms,” says Orlando Regional Chamber President Jacob Stuart, a participant in the Access for Health planning initiative. In avoidable hospital admissions alone, local taxpayers paid at least $4 million in 1999.  The cost of health benefits jumped almost 15 percent in 2002, the largest one-year rise since 1990. 

Access for Health is evaluating strategies to increase the number of small businesses providing coverage by offering incentives to employers and insurance agents, and developing more flexible and affordable health products.   A subsidized prescription drug program for low-income residents also is being evaluated, as part of a broad series of recommendations that will be released soon.

To learn more about Access for Health, visit www.accessforhealth.org or contact Lisa Portelli at lportelli@wphf.org.