On March 28, 2001, Community Voices released the report Too Few Options: The Insurance Status of Widowed or Divorced Older Women. This report found that while the majority of widowed or divorced older women aged 55 to 64 have health insurance, those who are uninsured may have difficulty finding quality, affordable health care coverage. In this age group, 16.2% of women have no form of health insurance, compared to 12.8% of men. Widowed or divorced older women with low incomes, those who are unemployed, and minority women are most likely to face problems gaining access to the health insurance market.
The report, prepared by Families USA, examined the minimum monthly premiums for health insurance policies in our 13 communities for women aged 55 to 64. Depending on age and location, these minimum premiums ranged from $1,584 in Charleston, West Virginia, to $18,684 in Miami annually. In New York, a state whose premiums were in the mid-range of the 13 communities studied, a 55- to 64-year-old woman would pay between $3,000 to $5,304 annually, well beyond the means of many divorced and widowed women.
I am pleased to report that many Community Voices sites are working to close the insurance gap by creating new insurance products tailored to the needs of local residents. These programs address the unique health care needs of older widowed and divorced women as well as other underserved populations who have no other source of health care coverage.
These innovative programs offer services for conditions that are sometimes excluded from standard insurance programs. These services include treatment for substance abuse and mental illness. In addition, the language and cultural needs of targeted groups are being included in the benefit design and the outreach component of many of these programs.
Some of the products that Community Voices programs have created include:
El Paso, TX: El Paso's Community Voices site has developed and implemented a primary care, managed care plan for the uninsured. The plan targets people who do not receive coverage through Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP.
Denver, CO: Denver Health Community Voices has initiated a small business premium subsidy program that targets low-income, small businesses newly offering coverage to workers. The program covers 20% to 50% of the premium for both the employer and the employee.
North Carolina: FirstHealth of the Carolinas Community Voices has created a health coverage program for uninsured migrant children and adults who do not qualify for public assistance.
Sacramento, CA: The California Rural Indian Health Board Community Voices site has created the first statewide health maintenance organization (HMO) by and for Native Americans. This HMO will serve low-income families who participate in the Medi-Cal program and receive health care at Native American clinics throughout the state.
Detroit, MI: Detroit's HealthChoice is a direct coverage program available through Wayne County, Michigan, employers whose employees have modest incomes (less than $11/hour) and who have not provided health care coverage. Premiums are subsidized by Wayne County, with the remainder split between employer and employee.
Oakland, CA: The Family Care health coverage program from Oakland Community Voices provides health-related services to uninsured children and their parents who fall below a certain income level in Alameda County.
New Mexico: The University of New Mexico Care Plan includes the traditional "planks" of a managed system: eligibility, enrollment, provider support, and patient services. Since 1997 the plan has enrolled over 15,000 previously uninsured individuals.
New York, NY: The Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative is developing a model health insurance program to address the specific problems confronted by the uninsured in the northern Manhattan communities of Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood. This model program would provide insurance for owners and employees of small businesses, self-employed individuals and their families, and selected others who do not qualify for Medicaid or other existing health coverage programs.
Ingham County, MI: The Ingham Health Plan is a health coverage program for uninsured residents of Ingham County, Michigan, with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The program links enrollees to a medical home, or a regular and consistent source and site of primary care, and uses managed care principles to promote preventative care and appropriate utilization of services.
Please return to this site regularly to learn more about these and other insurance products being created by Community Voices sites across the nation.
To obtain your free copy of Too Few Options: The Insurance Status of Widowed or Divorced Older Women, call 1-800-819-9997 and request item # 499, or download the report from this web site.