Locally, number of uninsured remains high

The uninsured population has not fallen in Benton & Franklin counties nearly as significantly as it has statewide

On Feb. 4 the Herald published an article saying that the number of uninsured people in Washington has been cut in half since the implementation of health reform. This article was based on a news release and report issued by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC).

While that report does clearly say that the uninsured rate statewide has been cut in half, the results in Benton and Franklin counties are far different. The report issued by the OIC says the uninsured rate in Franklin county has declined 34% and in Benton county only 9%. Overall the bi-county area has seen a decrease of 19.5%.

Looking at how the two counties ranked compared to other counties in the state, Franklin county had the sixth highest uninsured rate in 2012 and the fourth highest in 2014 (the latest year for which county-by-county data is available). For Benton County, 31 of the 39 counties in the state had a higher rate of uninsured in 2012 and at the end of 2014 only 10 counties had a higher rate.

The OIC data says that at the end of 2012 we had 40,018 people in Benton and Franklin counties that were uninsured. At the end of 2014 this had decreased to 32,199 — approximately the number we had in 2008.

The uninsured population in our community continues to be very high.

The report also addresses the reduction in Uncompensated Care in hospitals. Uncompensated care is the total of charity care plus bad debt. The OIC says that uncompensated care statewide declined by 49 precent between 2013-14. Again, the story in Benton and Franklin counties does not match the statewide data. The decrease between 2013-14 was 11 percent, which is more consistent with the lower decrease we have seen in those who are uninsured.

For more than 13 years, Grace Clinic has worked to help meet the need of the uninsured residents of our community, and the need for the services Grace Clinic provides is not going away. Since opening in 2002, the clinic has provided more than 54,000 patient visits. We saw 40 new patients in January 2016, 544 new patients in 2015 and had 5,000 patient visits for the year.

Grace Clinic is operated primarily by volunteers, and our financial support comes entirely from the local community through individuals, churches, businesses, service clubs and United Way. The need for the services the Clinic provides continues to be great.

The rosy picture painted by the Feb. 4 article does not represent what we are seeing in this community.

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 11:35 PM with the headline "Locally, number of uninsured remains high."