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Press Releases
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Press ReleaseIndependence Blue Cross Expands Commitment to UninsuredCharitable Medical Care Grant Program provides funding to local clinics Philadelphia, PA - May 4, 2006 - Nobody waits in the lobby anymore. Not the child who needs immunizations, the diabetic mother, nor any of the 12,000 patients who walk through the door of one of ChesPenn Health Services’ clinics each year. From the time they enter until they head home, patients at ChesPenn know that an appointment will take 45 minutes at the most. Each visit will include an in-depth consultation with a health care provider, picking up medications at the in-house dispensary and, if needed, meeting with a social worker. This efficient, quality service is all the more incredible because ChesPenn’s patients are those that normally fall through the cracks of the health care system. About 85 percent of the clinic’s patients are at or below federal poverty level, 22 percent have no health insurance, and some patients have no homes. One reason ChesPenn is able to provide comprehensive care to the uninsured at its trio of clinics is a three-year, $525,000 grant from the Charitable Medical Care Grant Program, created by Independence Blue Cross. In just two years, this program has given more than $4.7 million to 25 privately run, nonprofit clinics in southeastern Pennsylvania that provide care to the area’s uninsured and underinsured population – nearly 60,000 patients every year. Now Independence Blue Cross has expanded the Charitable Medical Care Grant Program and will dedicate up to $2 million per year through 2010 to help the clinics – for a total of $10 million committed to the program. The 25 clinics that have received grants so far have used IBC’s financial support to increase hours of operation, expand the number of patients treated, help people enroll in free or low-cost insurance, decrease emergency room care, and increase bilingual materials and service information. Fundamentally, the program supports quality care that ultimately reduces the number of uninsured individuals who require treatment at area hospitals for serious and costly health problems that could have been avoided with basic preventive care. “The Charitable Medical Care Grant Program is one more way that we are committed to the overall health of our community,” says Joseph A. Frick, IBC president and CEO. “By supporting non-profit clinics from Doylestown to Chester, we not only provide quality medical care for more than 60,000 needy people, we also help reduce incidence of uncompensated care to our hospitals – and that ultimately helps control medical costs for everyone.” In addition to the assistance provided to the uninsured through the Charitable Medical Care Grant Program, Independence Blue Cross is participating in events in Nearly 46 million Americans, including more than 8 million children are living with out health insurance. Locally, about 1.454 million Pennsylvanians – or 11.9 percent of the population – are uninsured. The cost of the uninsured is shouldered by everyone. The nation loses an estimated $65 billion to $130 billion every year because of the poor health and premature deaths of uninsured Americans, according to the Living without health insurance can have serious consequences. Research shows that the uninsured live less healthy lives and die earlier than those with health insurance. Roughly 18,000 Americans die unnecessarily every year because they lack health insurance, according to the Three of the 25 clinics that have received grants from the IBC program are managed by ChesPenn:
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in Independence Blue Cross recently received the highest ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for its HMO and PPO health care plans. In addition, in 2005, Independence Blue Cross’s Personal Choice was rated the No. 1 PPO in the nation and its Keystone HMO was ranked the No. 1 HMO in the region by health care consumers in a leading independent consumer magazine.
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