Congressman Jerry Moran stopped Thursday morning in Lawrence to learn about Health Care Access, a clinic that serves low-income, uninsured residents in Douglas County.
Moran, who is candidate for the U.S. Senate, was invited by clinic leaders. He spent about an hour at the clinic, 330 Maine, touring and asking questions about its operations, funding and relationships with other providers.
About a dozen people welcomed Moran, including several Health Care Access board members, Lawrence Memorial Hospital CEO Gene Meyer, State Rep. Tom Sloan, of Lawrence, and Connie Hubbell, director of governmental affairs for the Kansas Association for the Medically Undeserved
The association serves the state’s 39 safety net clinics, including Health Care Access. Hubbell said only six clinics provide free care like Lawrence’s clinic.
Moran said he was impressed that the clinic operates without federal dollars. Its annual budget is about $480,000. About half of the money comes from the city, county, state and United Way of Douglas County. The other half is from grants, fundraisers and donations.
Yet, the clinic provides $4 million worth of care each year, along with $450,000 in medication.
“What’s in a sense pleasing to me is that people here are asking for little from the federal government,” Moran said. “They are not requesting money because this really is a volunteer and private donor operated facility. It means the medical community in Lawrence is stepping forward to provide services, and it means they have volunteers and donors who are making this clinic possible.”
During the tour, the potential effect of health care reform was on everyone’s mind.
The clinic serves about 1,400 residents annually. There are an estimated 17,000 people who are uninsured in Douglas County.
Moran said that while more people may become insured, he fears there won’t be enough health care providers, especially ones who will accept Medicaid and Medicare, which will be expanded to encompass the previously uninsured.
Moran, who serves as co-chairman of the House Rural Health Care Coalition, voted against the bill.
One of the main reasons, he said, was because it didn’t address the costs of health care.
“We ought to be addressing why does health care cost as much as it does, and we ought to be addressing the cost drivers, and this bill doesn’t do that,” he said.
He’s also concerned that the bill will reduce Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. He thinks the possible rate reduction will cause health providers to retire and college students to seek careers outside the medical field.
“We are adding one more segment of patients whose provider will be compensated at a rate less than what it costs to provide the service,” he said.
Moran said there are 75 hospitals in the 1st Congressional District that he now represents — the most of any congressional district in the country. He said their biggest challenges are Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, health care provider shortages, and the red-tape paperwork that drives up costs.
He said “it’s hard to predict” how reform will affect these hospitals.
What he does know is that safety net clinics, like Health Care Access, are saving money.
“It’s cost-effective. One of the most expensive ways of providing health care is an emergency room and this is a way that we can provide quality service without that high price tag.”
At the end of the tour, Hubbell presented Health Care Access with a check for $100 in honor of Moran and Sloan and their support of safety net clinics.
The event just happened to be during Primary Care Safety Net Clinic Week in Kansas. It’s a campaign to recognize that these clinics provided care for 223,000 people, regardless of their ability to pay.
