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Report: It takes too long to see a city doctor
Low-income workers and the uninsured call for an accessible public primary care system
PUP Report: Waiting: Three to Five months
for first appointment at Neighborhood Health Centers
Read the report
(Philadelphia - 1/9/2006) - The medically uninsured are waiting as long as five months to get into City run District Health Centers for the first time, according to a new report by the Philadelphia Unemployment Project [P.U.P.] called "Waiting: 3-to-5 months for first appointments at District Health Centers." This morning, members of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project [P.U.P.] gathered outside of Health Center #2 with their supporters to release the report and call on the city to do more for people without insurance.
"We want the Health Centers to have enough staff so people can be seen," said Irma Sumler, a member of P.U.P's Health Care Committee and user of Health Center #3. "We also want the hours extended every night and regular hours on Saturday. The people working without insurance can't afford to take off to go to the doctor."
According to the most recent data from the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation's Community Health Database [http://www.phmc.org/chdb/], nearly 140,000 people are living without health insurance in Philadelphia. Nationally, 82% of them are in families headed by workers, and 59% of uninsured workers work full-time.*
"People assume that if you've got a full time job, then you don't have a problem with health care. The truth is that most uninsured people have jobs. We can see that in entry level jobs people don't get the benefits that provide health care. How can you look for work or expect to work if you don't believe you have a way to protect the health of you and your family?" Andre Butler, chair of the P.U.P board and Health Center #10 user, said.
Sumler said she continued using the Health Center even after she got onto Medicare and no longer had to. She said she likes going to the health centers, but added that she's seen services diminish as staff have moved on or retired, "They used to be a one-stop shop for everything you needed, which is how it should be."
The "Waiting" report compiles the results of several dozen calls made by PUP members and staff on two different occasions (first in the Summer and then in the Fall), calling all the health centers to ask for a first appointment for an uninsured, Philadelphia resident. While a few people were offered appointments within a month, that was only sporadically. Over two-thirds of the callers were offered appointments at least three months out, some as late as five months out.
The results come as no surprise to long-time supporters and users of District Health Centers. Sue Rosenthal, chair of Health Center #10's Community Board, issued a statement on behalf of all the Community Board chairs, "We - the chairs of the eight Philadelphia Health Center Community Boards - are deeply disturbed by the results of your research ... It is our hope your report will galvanize the Administration to relieve the unnecessary misery and danger caused to Health Center patients by the Administrations unconscionable delays." Rosenthal explained that the City failed to hire for the new positions approved for the Health Centers in the 2006 budget and did a poor job of refilling empty positions.
Richard Weisshaupt, Senior Attorney at Community Legal Services, said: "The kind of wait times documented by PUP are simply not acceptable -- we would not tolerate such delay in other City services essential to public health and safety, like police and fire. Hopefully, the uncovering of this scandal will be the first step towards fixing this terrible problem."
Currently, each District Health Center has a different night of the week that it stays open later than 4:30 PM. Only Health Center #2 has Saturday hours, which run from 8AM to Noon. All residents of Philadelphia may access District Health Centers, whether or not they have insurance. To find a Health Center near you, call, (215) 685-6790.
* - Employee Benefits Research Institute, http://www.ebri.org/
Opening Remarks
by Irma Sumler
PUP Health Care Committee Press Conference
January 9th, 2006
We're here today to express our support for Philadelphia's District Health Centers. We are members of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project and have supported a strong public health system for a long time.
I am a user of the Health Centers and have been for 30 years. I use Health Center #3. I know the Health Centers have good doctors and the best care. I go out of my way to be able to continue to use the Health Centers and believe that everyone who can use them should. Only the problem is that a lot of folks can't make it down to the Health Centers when they are open or they can't set aside a whole day to come walk-in.
My family used the Health Centers for years. That's where I took my daughter and my husband. I've had the same doctor at Health Center #3 for the last three years. While I'm happy with the centers overall, I have watched the services shrink. We used to have an X-Ray Technician at my center and we used to have a doctor that could do teeth extractions. They used to be a one-stop shop for everything you needed, which is how it should be.
Now, I've always been one to make an appointment with my doctor at the Health Center, and I know how it works well enough that if I need to see her I know which days she sees the walk-ins and that's when I'll go if I need to see her right away. I tell people all the time that they should use the health centers but they need to keep their appointments when they make them, because if they don't the centers lose income and someone else doesn't get seen that could have.
I got involved in P.U.P.'s work on the District Health Centers because I believe in the service they provide and I believe in the care people receive in them. As a former health care worker, I believe that everyone needs access to good, effective, friendly care. I believe that the District Health Center's provide that kind of care, once people get in. It's getting in that's the problem.
We are issuing our report, "Waiting," today, as a first step in our campaign to accomplish three things:
1. We want all District Health Centers open till 9PM every night.
2. We want regular hours on Saturdays.
3. We want the Health Centers to be able to see more people overall, so no one has to wait six months for a first appointment with a doctor.
It's going to take money to make this happen, but it's simply a question of where the city sets its priorities. We're looking out for the needy, the working needy, here. We're not talking about the greedy. Health Center users need this care in order to keep getting to work and participating in the regrowth of Philadelphia.
If we want to be a working city again, if we want more people to have jobs and stay on those jobs, we need them to be healthy. The simple truth is that fewer and fewer jobs come with benefits anymore and most of the Uninsured are employed.
You've got to be healthy to work, and if we want our city to be a city of workers, then it's the City's responsibility to make sure the workers stay healthy.
How we did the Report
Andre Butler, Philadelphia Unemployment Project
January 9, 2007
According to the Community Health Database, there are about 140,000 uninsured people in Philadelphia. National statistics show that 82% of the uninsured live in families headed by workers and 59% of those workers are full-year, full-time. This problem is not getting any better. We all know that employers are moving away from providing benefits and providing less adequate benefits when they do.
Philadelphia is lucky to have bulwark against the crisis of uninsurance in the form of our District Health Centers.
The Philadelphia Unemployment Project has always worked primarily with low-wage and out-of-work people. The people we see around the office have been telling us about the long waits to get appointments with doctors at our City Health Centers. As this came up more and more often, PUP became more concerned about it. As we've worked to help people obtain jobs and make sure the base wage was decent for those jobs, we realized that people also need to be healthy in order to work.
We decided to call all eight health centers ourselves to see how long the wait was to get appointments. So a group of volunteers got together and called in to the health centers on two separate occasions. We kept track of the dates and times that we called and what appointment time was offered us. That led to the report you see here, "Waiting," where you can actually see the dates and times that people were offered at different centers when they asked for appointments.
We've put that all on paper so that the public can see how badly strained the system is.
People assume that if you've got a full time job then you don't have a problem with health care. The truth is that most uninsured people have jobs. We can see that in entry level jobs people don't get the benefits that provide health care. How can you look for work or expect to work if you don't believe you have a way to protect the health of you and your family?
We are introducing this report to call on the city to better serve the citizens of Philadelphia who are trying to be productive members without the protection of health insurance.
I'm uninsured myself and I knew I needed health care but was reluctant to seek it out. Due to PUP's long history of supporting the public health system and the District Health Centers, in particular, I knew that when I actually needed care that should be where I went.
So, now, I've been using the health centers for a little over a year now. I went in as a walk-in emergency the first time and was seen pretty quickly. My first actual appointment though was a four-month wait. Since then, the care has been good and effective and I'm glad that Health Center #10 has been there for me when I needed it. When I did have a problem with the service of the Center, the problem was dealt with expeditiously.
A big thing for me is prescription care. In fact, the insurance programs for the Uninsured in the state, such as adultBasic and Blue Cross Special Care, fail to provide prescription coverage, but the District Health Centers actually fill this enormous gap in people's health care needs, and that's why I think the Health Centers are such an enormous boon for the city.
We look to City Council to show leadership on making sure that Philadelphia is a health city. We see health care as a right, especially for working people. Working people also need a public health system that can work with their schedules and prevent them from losing already scarce wages. We also encourage people without health insurance to use the District Health Centers rather than burning their limited income on expensive private care or wrecking their credit with medical debt from hospitals.
We also look forward to hearing the Governor's statewide plans around improving our healthcare system. We anticipate supporting any initiative that makes healthcare, hospitals and doctors more accessible.
Statement by For Our Common Good, LLC
January 9, 2007
For Our Common Good uses creative philanthropy to address social justice issues such as hunger, access to health care and homelessness.
As part of paying our civic rent we are purchasing Adult Basic Insurance for a man who though disabled has been an outstanding member of society as an employee, volunteer and model citizen. Now on disability, his stipend precludes his qualification for Medicaid while providing too little to purchase health care. He will not be Medicaid eligible for a year and a half.
We are outraged that in a country of enormous wealth and creative capacity that more than 140,000 Philadelphians - many of whom are the working poor, veterans and the disabled are without dignified and sustaining health care. Because we have not developed a universal health care model individual access is often uncertain, unaffordable or inadequate. The loss of a job, the death of a spouse or a pay raise can each result in termination of health care coverage.
Join us and The Philadelphia Unemployment Project by contacting us to connect you, your corporation or social network with another deserving Philadelphian living without medical insurance.
For Our Common Good, LLC
Cathy A. Barlow, Esq.
Susan Karol Martel, Ed.M
forourcommongood@aol.com
215.844.7772
From Sue Rosenthal, on behalf of the chairs, board members and clients of all Philadelphia's Public Health Centers:
Thank you to the Philadelphia Unemployment Project for its report on our Neighborhood Health Centers. We - the chairs of the eight Philadelphia Health Center Community Boards - are deeply disturbed by the results of your research: that the time required for an initial appointment is now longer than three to five months you found in your early inquiries last July.
We believe this increased waiting period is due not only to the increase in patients seeking heath care, but to a failure on the part of the City's Personnel Department to fill the staff positions agreed to in the new budget. Additional funding was available as of July 1, but little or nothing was done to test, create lists or hire the needed persons. The city has "hired" mostly provisional workers. These can be fired. They are not permanent. They have not been tested or put onto a list. It is our hope your report will galvanize the Administration to relieve the unnecessary misery and dangers caused to Health Center patients by the Administration's unconscionable delays.
We also support your suggestion to extend Center hours to include some evenings and Saturdays. This is being tried in a very limited way in some health centers. It must be extended. For working people to lose a day's pay in order to deal with their health problems is an unfair punishment for Health Center clients.
Once again, thank you for your care and action concerning the unmet needs of the clients of our Health Centers.
Sue Rosenthal is chair of the Board of Citizens for District Health Center #10.
December 26, 2006
