Alabama, Arkansas Groups Form Coalitions To Provide Indigent Care
Newspapers recently profiled advocacy groups' efforts to initiate programs that provide free care to the uninsured. The following are summaries of those stories:
- Alabama: Officials from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Cooper Green Hospital and a doctor from South Alabama have formed a coalition to offer free care to poor and uninsured Alabamans, the Birmingham News reports. David Fine, CEO of the UAB Health System; Dr. Sandra Hullet, CEO of Cooper Green; and Dr. Regina Benjamin, president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, founded the Southern Center for Health Care Access in July. Although the group's strategy for providing care to the poor and uninsured is "still vague," it will start by offering services at Cooper Green Hospital and University Hospital and inviting other hospitals that provide care for many indigent patients to join. The coalition plans to apply for federal grants and attempt to receive Medicaid payments to offset the cost of providing care, as well as to educate politicians and others on the issue of indigent care. The group ultimately hopes to form a statewide and regional coalition to provide free care (Velasco, Birmingham News, 9/2).
- Arkansas: Churches have begun working with medical professionals and social service agencies statewide to provide free medical care to Arkansans without health insurance, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. As many as 400,000 state residents have no health insurance, according to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Statewide, several clinics, many of which are affiliated with churches, are beginning to offer medical services, prescription drugs and other health services free of charge to people who are uninsured. Church parishioners provide money, volunteer hours and often offer their buildings for clinic use. More communities in the state are looking into providing similar services, the Democrat-Gazette reports (Stewart, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 9/3).
