Aurora Arias on the upcoming Health Care Access
Community Meeting
April 6, 2007
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My name is Aurora Arias and I am a senior in community
health at the University of Illinois and am currently
completing my internship at Champaign County Health Care
Consumers.
Health care is increasingly becoming a top priority in
national and state politics. While our elected officials
need to address the important topic of quality,
affordable health care for all, Champaign County Health
Care Consumers continues to advocate for much needed
changes in the local health care system. Changes must be
made to ensure that all local residents have access to
basic health care services.
Champaign County is home to two non-profit hospitals and
two large physician group practices as well as a very
small health care clinic for the medically underserved.
Despite our county's ample supply of health care
providers, too many Champaign County residents who are
uninsured or who have Medicaid insurance do not have
access to primary health care. This lack of access is a
crisis for these individuals and our community.
Estimates indicate that approximately 40% of Champaign
County's population is effectively locked out of the
health care system.
These residents cannot get an appointment to see a
doctor in our community when they need one, and they
cannot get medically-necessary surgeries and other
procedures. Many of these people have health problems
that have already been diagnosed through visits to a
hospital emergency room or because they did have access
to health care at some point in the past few years – for
example, they need a simple surgery to remove a cyst or
they need oral surgery to remove a damaged tooth that
keeps giving them infections, or they just need their
blood pressure medications reviewed and refilled. Those
are just a few examples from the hundreds of calls the
Consumer Health Hotline receives every month from local
residents unable to get the health care they need.
Carle Clinic and Christie Clinic, where over 90% of
Champaign County’s doctors work, continue to limit or
refuse care to uninsured patients and patients with
Medicaid insurance. Frances Nelson Community Health
Center does not have the capacity to serve the great
majority of these patients. The local crisis in health
care access is a result of the concentration of services
at our two clinics whose similar policies restrict
access. Champaign County cannot be a healthy, productive
community unless all residents have access to quality,
affordable health care services.
Champaign County Health Care Consumers invites community
members who would like to learn more about the local
crisis in health care access to attend a community
meeting next week on Thursday, April 12, at 6:00 p.m. at
Provena Covenant Hospital. CCHCC is joined by several
co-sponsors for this meeting including: Provena Covenant
Medical Center, Carle Foundation Hospital,
Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, and the City of
Champaign Township.
The meeting program will include additional information
about the local crisis in health care access, the role
of health care providers and the state of Illinois, and
how the community can work together to end this crisis.
CCHCC believes that together we can fashion a local
solution to this crisis.
To RSVP for this meeting, or for more information,
contact CCHCC at 217-352-6533 or check out the CCHCC
website at www [dot] health care consumers [dot] org. If
you cannot access health care services and need help,
call the Consumer Health Hotline at 217-352-6533 to
speak with an advocate. |
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