For the countless Cook County residents who've spent
long days in crowded health clinics and emergency rooms waiting to see a doctor, a
new government study highlighting the magnitude of the local uninsured
population probably doesn't come as much of a stunner.
A new U.S. Census Bureau study reports that 785,000 Cook County residents do not have health insurance. That's 17 percent of the overall population. Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D) actually suspects the figure, based off a 2005 census report, is low.
The latest number comes as the county's newly-formed Health and Hospitals System Board grapples over drafting a budget that can provide enough services to meet the demands of nearly one million patient visits expected next year. Within weeks they're anticipated to release an annual spending plan that's likely to top $800 million.
Slumping revenues coupled with rising demand wil no doubt make it nearly impossible to run the kind of programs that fully meet patients' needs, says Patrick Keenan-Devlin, a health care lobbyist with Citizen Action. "You don't have to be a budget expert to do the math."
Whether the board will be able to reverse the the 17 percent across-the-board cuts instituted during the '07 and '08 fiscal years -- which led to the closure of more than a dozen clinics -- remains to be seen.
According to Suffredin, the county has no choice but to bring back as many services as possible -- and quickly. "If Cook County fails, it will have a devastating effect on hospitals around us," he said. "They'll go bankrupt."
The county's struggle is hardly unique. We've noted before that the number of uninsured in Illinois continues to climb. DeKalb, Crass and Jackson counties all have uninsured rates that top 20 percent, according to the latest census report.
With the health care system "in crisis" and the cost of services constantly on the rise, Keenan-Devlin says, "I can't imagine that the new health board, with a magic wand, is going to be able to fix [the system]."
Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Comtesse DeSpair.
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