Grant County health: Paying for uninsured cost $11.3 million

Moses Lake hospital spent $1.6 million on charity care in 2004

GRANT COUNTY - Providing health care to the uninsured in Grant County added $11.3 million to health insurance premiums in 2004, according the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

People without health insurance added a total $553 million to premiums on private health plans in Washington in 2004, which is up from $457 million in 2002, according to a report released this month. Sandy Peck, spokesperson for the state insurance commissioner's office, said the cost is to those whose insurance premiums go up due to the uninsured.

According to the August report, 19.7 percent of Grant County residents received uncompensated health care in 2004 and 21.6 percent in the county were uninsured. In comparison, the number of residents uninsured statewide averaged 13.8 percent. Adams County had the highest percentage of residents uninsured at 25.3 percent. Peck said the numbers for 2004 are more accurate than 2002 because the commissioners office factored in U.S. Census Bureau data.

"We already have universal coverage," Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said. "How? Because the uninsured do receive health care, it's just that we all pay for their care, and they often get their care in emergency rooms, the most expensive and least effective setting."

Scott Campbell, vice president planning and development at Samaritan Health Care in Moses Lake, said emergency room visits are the most common visits for uninsured patients. If an uninsured patient goes through a regular admitting process, the hospital works with them to see what types of aid they may qualify for. If the patient is low income, but does not qualify for a health plan, the hospital will sometimes consider it charity or work with the patient to put them on a payment plan.

"It certainly has an impact on the hospital, it has an impact on physicians," Campbell said.

In 2005, the hospital counted $1.6 million in spending as charity, $600,000 more than 2004 and three times more than 2003.

The number of uninsured individuals factor into charity spending, but the correlation isn't perfect, Campbell said. For example, someone might have insurance but be unable to pay the portion of their bill not covered by insurance.

Samaritan accepts everyone who comes to the hospital, regardless of whether they have insurance.

"As a public hospital district we're obligated by law to see anybody that comes to our facility, so we don't turn anybody away, whether they have insurance or not," Campbell said.

The hospital receives money from the state because it sees a higher-than-average number of low-income and charity patients, Campbell said. The hospital also receives support from the government for its general operating expenses.

According to the August report, counties with unemployment rates of 8.4 percent or greater are considered distressed. Grant County's unemployment rate was 11.6 percent between January 2002 and December 2004, the highest unemployment rate average in the state.

The data reports in 2004, 32.7 percent of Grant County residents received services from the Department of Social and Health Services.