Low-cost health clinic set to open in September

May 10, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - About 122,000 of Alaskans don't have health insurance - about 19 percent of the 648,818 people living in the state, according to the most recent available U.S. Census Bureau figures.

That percentage doubles among residents in the Valley, where uninsured and underinsured people make up 40 percent of the Mat-Su population, according to Maryalice Larson, chief executive officer of Behavioral Health Services of Mat-Su Inc.

A $650,000 federal grant to create a new, low-cost medical center for the community couldn't have come at a better time. The community health-care facilities, which could be open to the public as soon as Sept. 6, will be housed in BHSMS' existing building, l1363 W. Spruce Ave., Wasilla.

"This resource is coming on board at time that it's really needed. We're struggling with access to affordable health care, and because of rising health-care costs, more people are getting squeezed out," according to John Cannon, executive director of Mat-Su Services for Children & Adults.

The new center, which should be moved into the east wing off the BHSMS building this autumn, will accept residents who have insurance and those who have Medicaid coverage. Uninsured individuals will pay fees based on a sliding scale, Larson said.

Cannon explained how the September opening of the medical center will coincide with the sunset clause on increased matching federal funds for Alaska's Medicaid program.

For the past 10 years in Alaska, the U.S. government reimbursed Medicaid costs at 58-59 percent. Beginning Oct. 1, the federal government will pay only 50 percent, leaving the state to pay a substantially larger Medicaid bill, according to Cannon.

"My gut is telling me that Congress is not going to extend Alaska's higher reimbursement rate," he said. "So Medicaid recipients won't have the level of preventative care that they are currently receiving."

Most of the clients who go through Canon's agency experience developmental disabilities and other challenges. MSSCA hosts Mat-Su Infant Learning & Healthy Families programs, which provide home-based services for children, from birth to age 5, and their families. Most of those clients receive their health coverage through Medicaid.

"There's an increasing number of health-care providers that won't accept Medicaid. Some practices limit the percentage of patients they'll take who are on Medicaid," Cannon said.

Larson, who runs BHSMS, said many health-care providers are too busy to take on new clients.

Another ongoing epidemic in the state stems from higher health insurance premiums that keep working people from being able to buy basic coverage.

"The people who can't afford insurance aren't the poorest of the poor," U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the Frontiersman on Tuesday.

"A lot of people think that the 40 percent (of uninsured or underinsured individuals) don't work, aren't trying, or are relying on entitlement programs, but that just isn't true," Larson said. A large percentage of those people work for a small business that can't afford to offer health insurance to employees, she said. Even people who make $29,000 a year have a hard time budgeting $1,000 to $1,200 a month for insurance covering themselves and their families, Larson said.

Late last month, during the Health and Safety Fair at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex, Larson said she talked to a couple who could only afford catastrophic insurance, which would cover them if they suffered from a heart attack or were involved in a car wreck.

Most Valley primary-care clinics require payment up front and the inability of some people to afford to do that seems to have a ripple effect, Larson said.

People go to emergency services at Valley Hospital for something as minor as a cold because they don't have to pay right away. Even if they genuinely intended to pay later, sometimes the bill still goes unpaid, according to Larson.

"The hospital suffers for nonpayment. It's not a good use of resources for non-emergency patients to go to the E.R.," Larson said.

The fact that BHSMS received the grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, proves that the agency established a need and backed it up with data, according to Larson.

"That clinic should have a real positive impact on our patients," said Donn Bennice, chief executive officer with Alaska Family Services.