Health Care Executives, Experts Convene To Discuss Coverage for Uninsured
More than 100 Bay Area health care executives and experts last month met at an Urban Health Care conference to discuss ways to address the rising uninsured population and expand health coverage, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Wade Rose, committee chair and vice president for public policy and advocacy at Catholic Healthcare West, said that attendees devised a plan for a task force to "expand benefits to residents who are vulnerable to losing them or have never been able to afford them."
The creation of the task force depends on the receipt of a $75,000 grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation. If funding is received, the task force will generate a plan to expand health coverage, which could take as long as 18 months.
Some experts estimate that San Francisco's uninsured population has risen from 110,000 in 2003 to 160,000 currently, increasing demand on hospitals' charity care programs and raising the debate over who should pay for care for the uninsured.
The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's public policy committee, California Pacific Medical Center, CHW and Kaiser Permanente sponsored the conference (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/3).