Download this newsletter as a PDF
View News & Notes Archive
News & Notes
Governor Crist Proposes Pilot for the Uninsured
The Governor has proposed a 3-year, $64 million indigent health care pilot program that would be implemented in 14 counties around the state with a high number of uninsured residents. The new program would send social workers door-to-door in targeted neighborhoods to screen residents for possible enrollment in existing government health care programs. Residents could also be directed to a local county health department or health care clinic, which the governor's office hopes will help to alleviate some of the uncompensated care currently incurred by hospital emergency rooms. The pilot could reduce the number of hospital visits by people who could get care elsewhere by 680,000.
The 14 counties designated in the proposal include Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Gadsden, Duvall, Alachua, Orange, Osceola, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami- Dade, and Monroe. The program would be funded with $28.5 million from the Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund which will be used as match and $35.4 million from the Medical Care Trust Fund, which is the state's Medicaid federal financial participation.