Health Planning and Systems Development

FORUMS ON
ALASKANS’ HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE:
LOCAL AND REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Do You Have Health Insurance

Do You Know Someone Who Doesn’t?

Alaskans from around the state were invited to share their experiences and perspectives and to help develop strategies to enable more Alaskans to have health insurance.

Who are the uninsured in Alaska?

About 114,000 Alaskans (17% of the population) were counted as uninsured in 2005.

  • Young adults, males, and Alaska Natives are more likely to be uninsured.
  • People who are self employed, part time workers, seasonal workers, and people who work for small firms are most likely to be uninsured.
  • Most of the uninsured are employed; most uninsured who are not employed are children and others not in the workforce; only one in ten of the uninsured are unemployed people in the workforce.

The lack of health insurance has become a national issue. Other states have developed inventive strategies to reduce the number of people who lack health insurance. Now it’s Alaska’s turn.

Regional forums on Alaskans' health insurance coverage (July, 2007)

Southeast Region - Ketchikan
Southeast Region Forum Report

Anchorage Mat/Su – Palmer
Anchorage/Mat/Su Forum Report

Northern Region – Nome
Northern Region Forum Report

Interior Region – Fairbanks
Interior Region Forum Report

Southwest Region – Bethel
Southwest Region Forum Report

Gulf Coast Region – Valdez
Gulf Coast Region Forum Report

Overall Themes from Forum Discussions

During each forum the participants broke out into discussion groups to brainstorm, identify issues, and come up with solutions.

Concerns

  1. Lack of Medicare/Medicaid providers
  2. Travel issues (expense of traveling to/from rural areas limits access)
  3. Population group of males 21-64 with no dependants aren’t eligible for any type of public assistance
  4. COBRA is too expensive, and should last longer than 18 months
  5. Denali KidCare needs more funding
  6. Many people are over income for public assistance programs, but do not have enough finances to pay for their own medical bills: termed the “working poor”
  7. Lack of access to dental care for many people in rural are
  8. Reasonable and customary rates negotiated and paid by insurance companies are not correct for Alaska
  9. Cost shifting by medical organizations is hurting those who do have insurance
  10. Many uninsured seek primary care at the emergency room
  11. Health insurance should not be tied to insurance

Core Principles/Values

  1. Everybody should have health insurance
  2. Equal access to health care for all people
  3. Health care is a human right
  4. There needs to be personal accountability for health

Solutions

  1. Community awareness
  2. Preventive care
  3. A portion of the PFD should go to help cover health insurance
  4. Taxes should be raised to help cover the costs of insurance
  5. There should be a universal health care system
  6. Incentives for people living healthy lifestyles
  7. Increase recruitment for providers
  8. Provide state funding for Community Health Center

State Planning Grant on Health Insurance Coverage - Leadership Team and Staff

The State Planning Grant is managed by the Department of Health and Social Services in collaboration with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Oversight of the project is provided by the following Leadership Team and staff:

Leadership Team

Guy Bell was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Labor & Workforce Development in 2004.  Prior to that he worked as director of Administrative Services for the department.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, in 1979.  He received his Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Alaska in 1995, completing all coursework while working full time for the State of Alaska.

Jay Butler is the Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Dr. Butler received his MD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1985. His clinical training includes residencies in internal medicine and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University, residency in preventive medicine at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and fellowship in infectious diseases at Emory University.

Jerry Fuller has been Alaska Medicaid Director since 2004. Prior to that he spent 15 years doing program and budget work for the Oregon Medicaid system. He received an MS in rehabilitation counseling from Michigan State University in 1979. He worked as a VISTA volunteer in Wales, Alaska from 1969 to 1972.

Linda Hall was appointed to the position of Director of the Division of Insurance in the Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development on March 3, 2003. Director Hall is an 18-year resident of Alaska. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).

Anthony Lombardo is former Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health & Social Services. Previously he was Public Assistance Director and Director for Advocacy at Covenant House, a non-profit agency serving homeless and at-risk youth in Anchorage. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Dept. of Social Work. He is a graduate of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and a graduate of Willamette University Law School.

Health Planning & Systems Development State Planning Grant Staff

Patricia Carr is the Principal Investigator for the State Planning Grant on Insurance Coverage. She is the director of Health Planning and Systems Development in the Department of Health and Social Services. Ms. Carr has worked in Alaska since 1994 with a focus on health planning, rural health, health policy development, primary care, hospital services, and health promotion.

Alice Rarig is Project Director for the State Planning Grant on Insurance Coverage, and heads the Planning Team in Health Planning and Systems Development. Dr. Rarig has worked on public health data, health systems planning, workforce, shortage designations, and policy analysis in Alaska since 1997.

Neal Gilbertsen is a Research Analyst III with the Health Planning & Systems Development Unit. He is a longtime Alaskan and former commercial fisherman. Dr. Gilbertsen has been a professor of political science and has served as an economist with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Eric Peter is Health Program Associate for the Health Planning & Systems Development Unit. He has worked for the Department of Health & Social Services for 10 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and was born and raised in Juneau.

Additional project support is provided by:
Nancy Barros, Rebecca Wells, and Barbara Hale-DHSS. Katie Campbell-DCCED. Dean Rasmussen and Brynn Keith-DOLWD.