Recently, the Center for Health Care Policy released Innovations in Indigent Care: Strengthening the Safety Net in Texas. Counties in Texas that are not covered by public hospitals or hospitals districts must still provide for indigent care, covering uninsured residents below 21 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Though most counties in Texas provide these services, many struggle to keep costs under control.
Bexar County’s indigent care program, CareLink, has successfully restrained costs while also ensuring full coverage, not only for individuals and families under the poverty level, but also for uninsured up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. George Hernandez talked to the Center for Local Governance about Carelink, and how counties can provide better indigent health care programs, in this newly released episode of The Forum:
If counties apply the principles of CareLink, they can locally provide more effective and cost-efficient healthcare for the poor than other government programs.
Texas’ counties have the opportunity to successfully implement these programs where the federal government has largely failed.
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